How To Reduce Your Junk Mail By Half And Recycle The Rest [Week 9]

Posted On February 26, 2021

Green up your mailbox by reducing your junk mail and learn how to dispose of the mail and packaging that you do end up getting

Amanda Drews, 3 minute read

Let’s talk about:

• How to reduce the amount of junk mail you are receiving
• Where to dispose of the mail you do have

How to reduce the amount of junk mail you are receiving

We all get junk mail. About 63 pounds per household a year, according to Hennepin County! Now think about that adding up with every house you see. That’s a lot of waste!

Here’s what I want you to do. First, grab a calendar (or use your phone’s calendar), weigh your mail weekly and record it. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, then just save it up for the month and use a bathroom scale.

Second, take the steps below to reduce the junk mail you don’t want. Do that part today! Don’t worry, it takes a while to kick in so it won’t affect your weekly averages for some time. However you want to do it, just figure out about how much mail you are getting right now. Compare it in 3 months.

I was able to cut my junk mail in half over 3 months by taking the steps below. It took me about an hour to do but it’s worth it in the long run.

• Be aware of who is getting your address-professional organizations, charities, church groups, stores, financial institutions, etc.
• Sign up for paperless or automatic bill pay with your banks and utilities- it will save you time and money. You won’t have to sit down and write out all those checks or use any stamps. I’m looking at you, Mom! Some utilities may even offer you a discount. If you have an issue with not sitting down and looking at all the numbers, schedule a time every month to look at your accounts. I do this on the first of every month.
• Get rid of mail coming in for the people who used to live in your house– Write “Not at this address” and send it back to your mailbox for USPS.

Here’s how to opt out of marketing materials

• Credit offers: optoutprescreen.com
• Marketing associations and mail list brokers: dmachoice.org
• Red Plum Coupons: redplum.com/tools/direct-mail-preferences
• Val-Pal Coupons: valpak.com (go to the very bottom and click “address removal”
• Money Mailer Coupons: https://moneymailer.com/contact
• Yellow Pages: yellowpagesoptout.com. Do you really need this anymore?
• Catalogs: this is for different catalogs that you’ll have to search individually-catalogchoice.org. I know that 17 lb catalog from Restoration Hardware is pretty to look through but how many pieces of furniture have you bought from them?
• Publishers Clearinghouse: pch.custhelp.com/app/ask_mailing. How many people do you know that have won it so far?
• Readers Digest: email at customercare@rd.com

Where to dispose of the mail you do have

You are still going to have some mail, so let’s make sure you are getting rid of it the right way. Keep in mind the Rules of Recycling.

Here are some common items you will find in your mailbox and where they should go:

• Paper envelopes and all paper mailers: Recycling. You can leave the plastic windows, staples, stamps, and paper clips. They will come out in the pulping process.
• Cardboard boxes: Recycling. Flatten them down. You can leave tape and labels on.
• Mailers made out of all plastic: Usually store drop-off recycling locations for plastics. Think plastic mailers with the bubble wrap interior.

• Half bubble wrap/ half paper mailer: Trash. You can’t separate the two layers.
• Magazines: Recycle the magazine and any paper inserts. Bring the plastic wrappers to a store drop-off recycling location.
• Newspapers: Recycling. The plastic bag can go to a store drop-off recycling location.
• Ads: Recycling. Even the glossy ones can go in your recycling bin.

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• Air pillows: Store drop-off recycling with your other plastics. Deflate them first

• Crumpled brown paper for packing: Curbside recycling
• Packing peanuts-Depends. Some specialty recycling centers may take them. If they are are compostable, ask your composting facility or put them in your own compost. They should dissolve easily in water. Test one first.
• Compostable mailers– Depends. Check with your composting site. If they are cardboard/papery they should be able to go in there.
• Gel packets for cooling– Trash

• Insulating cooler bags with bubble wrap: Unclear. Amazon says theirs are trash. Imperfect Foods told me I could put them in store drop-off sites.
• Holiday cards: Recycling for the ones that are paper only. If they have glitter or foil throw them in the trash. Pictures printed on photo paper are trash as well. Keep that in mind for when you are choosing cards. Pre-cycle by choosing ones that are made from recycled materials and can be recycled themselves. I like to save all my holiday cards and baby announcements in a big scrapbook style book. When I was a kid, the one my mom had was my favorite photo book to look through. I still love looking back at what people looked like decades ago! It also helped me recognize people we don’t see often that we may not have any pictures of.

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1. Save up the mail you don’t really need to do anything with and as best you can, figure out how much mail you get in the average week or month.
2. Write down a list of all the places you get mail from or who may have your address. Contact them directly and ask to be taken off their mailing list if you do not want mail from them anymore.
3. Go through the list of how to opt out of marketing materials. You will have to keep at it for a bit for the catalogs in order to cancel each one.
4. Keep in mind where items from your mail go when you are done with them and recycle or dispose of them correctly.
5. Learn about what Household Hazardous Waste is and how to dispose of it in Week 10.