An easy way to reduce junk mail in your apartment building

We live in a 33 unit housing co-op. As in many apartment buildings, stacks of junk mail and flyers would make a daily trip from the mail carrier to the mailboxes and straight on to the recycling bin. Only two or three mailboxes had “No junk mail” stickers.

Everyday, I became more and more frustrated by the sheer volume of paper waste. “No junk mail” stickers have been available for years but I have never gotten around to applying one to my own mailbox. If I, as someone who works in the field of sustainability, couldn’t get around to putting up one of these stickers how could I expect anybody else to act?

Then, I hit on a simple system which has slashed the volume of paper waste in our co-op.

Rather than wait for people to take action, I acted for them by creating an Opt Out system of “No junk mail” labels. I printed removable stickers and applied one to every mailbox. I then put up little signs in the co-op common areas, explaining to my neighbours what I had done and inviting them to peel the stickers off if they still wanted to receive junk mail. So far, only four out of 33 people have opted out. It was important to use removable labels so people could easily peel them off if they still wanted their flyers.

But what, you might ask, happened to all the rejected flyers?

The first day, our mail carrier dumped all the junk mail in the co-op recycling bin. but the second day there was no junk mail. It so happens that we have a postie living in our building, so I asked him how the junk mail system works.

Here’s what he said; the postie is supposed to report to the junk mail department whenever somebody puts up a “No junk mail” sticker. The post office uses this count to calculate their charge to companies. It is updated both from postie reports and from periodic audits of the routes. This means that junk mail producers eventually print fewer copies, as more and more people refuse the flyers. Interestingly, posties get paid per piece of junk mail, and some can make a few hundred dollars extra each month delivering junk. In the long run, this seems like a bad way to set up a system, since it gives postal workers a vested interest in waste creation. However, that’s the topic of another post.

To sum up, this easy opt out system has produced no complaints from my neighbours, and has reduced senseless paper waste.

In case anybody would like to take this waste-reduction action in their building, I have attached all my files in PDF format. A quick analysis estimates that my little action will save ten trees every year in my building alone, not to mention all the energy and pollution caused by processing, printing, shipping, and recycling all that junk mail.

Since almost half of Vancouver’s population lives in multi-unit buildings, just imagine how much waste we could reduce if we all took this simple step to help our neighbours reduce the burden of unwanted junk mail and reduce our impact on the earth. You can also find some interesting statistics on junk mail here.

The cheapest removable labels I could find are the Avery 6504, from Staples, which were about seven dollars for 800 labels. They are only a half inch high and 1 3/4” long, which seemed small to me, but has worked out great. There are eighty labels on a sheet. The Word 5167 label template is the right size for these stickers. I have also attached the signage files that I posted near the mailboxes and on the doors leading out of our common area. I signed each notice so people would know who to talk to.

If anybody wants to come to East Vancouver, I will give away my leftover label sheets so you don’t need to buy more. If you only have an inkjet, I would be happy to print stickers for you on my laser printer. Leave your email in the comments, with an (at) for the @ symbol and I will email directions to the first six people who ask for a sheet.

Cheers,

Ruben.