44 percent of junk mail goes to the landfill unopened.
Junk mail was the bane of my zero waste journey for a long time. No matter how many times I opted to go “paperless” it just kept coming! And if you’re living zero waste and choose to count recycling as waste (like we do) then you have an extra incentive to keep that mail out of your life.
Here is what finally worked for me:
https://www.optoutprescreen.com/
They ask for your social security number which had me scared but I checked around the internet and it is legitimate, and it’s the only way I’ve found to stop the endless flow of junk mail.
This is how they get you:
Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), the Consumer Credit Reporting Companies are permitted to include your name on lists used by creditors or insurers to make firm offers of credit or insurance that are not initiated by you (“Firm Offers”). The FCRA also provides you the right to “Opt-Out”, which prevents Consumer Credit Reporting Companies from providing your credit file information for Firm Offers.
So head over to that link and opt out– incidentally you have to send them mail to opt out permanently but you can opt out for 5 years with an online form.
Enjoy your junk mail free mailbox!