How to stop junk mail

Junk mail annoys most people, and it is also very bad for the environment. The good news is that you can stop most of it.

A few figures for the United States:

producing junk mail takes about 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water every year

each year, 5.6 million tons of catalogs and other unsolicited mail go to landfill

about 44 percent of junk mail is thrown away without being opened, and only 22 percent is recycled

making and delivering it also burns energy, which means pollution and carbon emissions, and the inks add heavy metals to the environment

Coming home to a mailbox full of advertising is a familiar experience. Over a lifetime, the average American spends around 8 months opening junk mail. It clutters the house and takes time to sort, and most of it ends up in the bin or, at best, in the recycling. On top of the environmental damage and the annoyance, it costs taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

You cannot block every piece of junk mail, but the steps below can stop up to 90 percent of it.

These steps apply to people and businesses in the United States. Most other countries have similar systems.

sign up with the Mail Preference Service run by the Direct Marketing Association

visit OptOutPreScreen.com to take your name off the lists used by financial companies

ask every company you deal with to add you to its “do not promote” or “in-house suppress” list

when you take out a subscription, ask the publisher not to rent or sell your name

Most junk mail is unwanted and creates a huge amount of waste. With these few steps, you can put an end to most of it.