Now Reading

Recycling Junk Mail

With so much junk mail remaining unread, it’s important to add any unwanted ‘junk mail’ to your paper recycling bin for your next waste collection.

To reduce our impact on the environment we must identify and stop those practices that use resources in a potentially unsustainable manner. Unsolicited and intrusive advertising can be bad for the environment – if you don’t read it, make sure you put up a ‘No Junk Mail’ sign.

If you occasionally like to read catalogues, why not read the electronic version of your favourite catalogue instead? You can ﬁnd the electronic version of most of the major catalogues at this page.

How much recycling paper helps the environment?

Manufacturing paper from recycled stock instead of trees can reduce energy by approximately 50% and water use by up to 60%.¹
Producing one tonne of recycled paper can save up to: 31,780 litres of water, 4,100 kw/h of electricity, 13 trees, 27 kilograms of air pollutants, 5 cubic metres of landfill and 2.5 barrels of oil.²

References:

¹ ‘Know Your Paper: A guide to purchasing recycled content office paper’ (NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, January 2009)

² Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

Back