This week, greenwash fatigued bloggers (Gawker describes it as improbable a real news item as ‘the hot dog industry going vegetarian’) and non-profit spokespersons turned a skeptical eye on a group of direct marketing companies called the Green Marketing Coalition (GMC). Corporate clients, including Microsoft, Washington Mutual and OptimaHealth, are also in on the initiative.

GMC’s goal? Altruistic enough. According to the New York Times article “Direct marketing goes green. No, really”, these marketers are joining hands and taking small, albeit very conservative, steps to make an inherently unsustainable practice (i.e. sending wads of personal junk mail) at least a little bit greener. We have already written about junk mail solutions and naughty, catalogue-sending companies before and so we were curious about what best practices the industry funded group came up with.

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Help.  My hands are sweaty, my heart’s racing, my vision’s blurred and I can’t breathe. I’ve been shredding since last Monday and my office is nearly filled to the ceiling with little multicolored bits of paper that resemble viruses magnified under a microscope.  I feel myself sinking down through this swamp of cellulose dust, flailing about in vain to find a chair or cabinet to hang on to, grasping for one last breath of clean air… then darkness.

That’s my nightmarish vision of what it would feel like if I took all the direct mail that I ever received and shredded it all in one go.  I’d probably pass out, either from exhaustion or breathing pulverized paper pulp.

Let me be blunt: I hate junk mail. Whoever invented it, I want to dunk them into an Olympic-size pool filled to the brim with mailers, postcards and superficially impersonal letters.  I want to pour all the ink that’s ever been wasted into their bath tub and make them sit in it.  I want them to lick every single postage stamp ever used for direct mail.  I want them to look in the eyes of every one of their victims—once vibrant, dynamic people who are now spending their lives trying to organize, shred, get rid of junk mail they never asked for.  Their names are sold without their knowledge, their identities traded like junk bonds in darkened, dusty corners of cyberspace. Do-not-call and do-not-mail lists are riddled with loopholes. Few of us have the time or the resources to mount legal campaigns to protect the rights that should naturally be ours to begin with.  Do we need martial law to protect ourselves from the insistent march of these malicious mailers?

In real life, I’m somewhat more diplomatic.  In principle, I get why direct mail exists. There are legitimate reasons used by legitimate organizations with legitimate desires to inform their audiences about the work they do, their products and services. The problem is, it’s purely financial.  There’s not a single piece of direct mail that I have ever received that was sent for any other reason than acquiring donations, selling products or services, or other monetary gains.

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The first option that may come to mind is the well advertised Green Dimes service. It does indeed seem to do a great job at reducing mailings, up to 90% in three months, and they plant 10 trees for you while they’re at it. I do have a qualm with tree planting however, as it’s recently been shown that this popular eco guilt reliever has also resulted in the displacement of people in places like Uganda that tree planting companies want to make use of for this now increasingly lucrative business. But I digress…

Green Dimes would seem a fine option, but for one thing - there’s a better one out there.

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Paper bead making is a great craft for your little fashionista and is pretty simple to do. Using only junk mail, a toothpick and glue, this project is an easy way to get in a casual lesson on green living.

First, scour your junk mail pile and old magazines for colorful shiny paper to create your beads. The shiny varnished paper is pretty strong, brightly colored, and somewhat water proof. It is also more expensive to recycle, making it perfect for a project like this. Once your paper is selected, simply follow the following easy steps from HGTV:

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Paper artist Patricia Zapata of A Little Hut created these amazing works of art as a solution to her junk mail problem. The framed piece is made up of tiny strips of newsprint randomly glued to card-stock. It was then covered with an abstract floral card-stock frame. See a video podcast of her process on the Craftzineblog. Patricia’s adorable junk mail trees are simply made of junk mail and bristol paper. A detailed tutorial can be found on her blog. These simple processes can be translated into thousands of projects. Thanks Patricia, for sharing your junk mail love!

There are so many junk mail projects, I could not fit them all in one post. Share your project in a comment and you could be featured in a future post! Stay tuned for more!

Catalog Choice is a free service sponsored by the Ecology Center. Their mission "is to reduce the number of repeat and unsolicited catalog mailings, and to promote the adoption of sustainable industry best practices." The site is simple to use. After creating an account, simply search for catalogue names, enter your customer identification number from the back of the catalogue (if available), then click decline. If the catalogue you wish to decline is not in the database, you can request Catalog Choice to add it, and they will notify you when it is available. I have already declined ten catalogues in a few days; however, it can take up to ten weeks before you stop receiving the declined catalogues. Catalog Choice also offers a "My Choices" page, which allows you to change your mind and start receiving the catalogues again, as well as follow up on catalogues that you are still receiving despite your requests.

Here are some staggering environmental facts from Catalog Choice:

• Over eight million tons of trees are consumed each year in the production of paper catalogs.

• Nearly half of the planet’s original forest cover is gone today. Forests have effectively disappeared in 25 countries, and another 29 have lost more than 90% of their forest cover.

• Deforestation contributes between 20% and 25% of all carbon pollution, causing global climate change.

• More than one billion people living in extreme poverty around the world depend on forests for their livelihoods.

• There are other significant environmental impacts from the catalog cycle. The production and disposal of direct mail alone consumes more energy than three million cars.

• The manufacturing, distribution, collection and disposal of catalogs generates global warming gases as well as air and water pollution. Reducing the number of unwanted catalogs that are mailed will help the environment.
  

Catalog Choice is simple to use, and the impact is far-reaching. I would much rather not receive so many catalogues, then haul them to the recycling center each week. Visit Catalog Choice today, and see how easy it is to make a small change to help the environment.

Pay bills online. Credit card companies and utility providers encourage their customers to manage their accounts and pay bills online. Sure this makes it easier for them - less postage, and overhead costs - but you’ll also benefit and shred a lot less paper.

Read newspapers and magazines online. Many publications have their print edition available online for subscribers. Same info, less paper.

Stop junk mail. To make credit card offers, catalogs, direct mailings and all the rest of that junk disappear follow Rebecca’s Daily Tip on how to do this.

At work, utilize e-mail.

• Circulate memos and other interoffice communications via e-mail.
• Send and receive faxes electronically.
• Create electronic versions for major documents such as annual reports.
• Don’t print unless you have to.

Amy says: The hardest thing for me on this list is stopping junk mail. I’ve done all the things you’re supposed to do to prevent it, but it just keeps coming and coming. It seems like a never ending battle, but I’m going to fight until the bitter end.

Here are more Daily Tips from GO on going paperless:
Daily Tip: Click This, Tax Man!
Daily Tip: Electronic Faxes Save the Day
Daily Tip: Don’t Press That Button!
Daily Tip: Your Bills Will (Virtually) Disappear
Daily Tip: Find Zen. Live Sans Flyers
Daily Tip: War on Junk Mail
Daily Tip: Please Mister Postman, No More Junk Mail!
Daily Tip: Freedom From Catalogs
Daily Tip: Get yer Programs!
Daily Tip: Save a Tree, Read it Online

Most people hate junk mail — how many are willing to pay to stop it? Palo Alto-based startup GreenDimes is betting a lot will, and according to PEHub has raised a whopping $20.5 million in a first round of funding, led by Tudor Investment Corporation.

GreenDime’s site says it has “tens of thousands of members” and the annual fee is $36 per year (a dime a day). For that price the company says it will reduce your junk mail by a 75% to 90% and plant one tree a month. GreenDimes was founded by entrepreneur Pankaj Shah, who also founded 4INFO and MetroFi.

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