Stopping junk mail helps the environment and reduces deforestation. Trees soak up the CO2 that causes global warming. It is estimated that over 13 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered to Canadians. That adds up to about 450 pieces for every man, woman and child.
While junk mail is now recyclable with newspapers and magazines in local recycling programs, the best thing to do is stop it at the source.
To stop addressed junk mail: contact Do Not Mail Service, c/o Canadian Marketing Association, 1 Concord Gate, Suite 607, North York, ON. M3C 3N6. Tell them you want to be removed from their master mailing list. Include your address, postal code and all the forms of your name that have appeared on your mail.
You can also register on-line for the "Do Not Mail/Do Not Call" program at the association's web site (http://www.cdma.org). It is also worth contacting Tele-Direct Publications, Inc., an arm of Bell Canada that earns money by selling lists of names, addresses and phone numbers to junk mail distributors. You can write them at 325 Milner Ave., Scarborough, ON. M1B 5S8 and ask to be removed from the lists they sell.
Most local distributors of unaddressed junk mail such as flyers, will respect a "No Junk Mail" sign on your mailbox.
The Red Dot Campaign is good to check out http://www.reddotcampaign.ca.
Canada Post changed its policy of ignoring these signs, and will abide customers' requests to refuse junk mail.
