November 3, 2000 News Release Stop the hail of junk mail New resources from King County can help reduce junk mail at home AND at work With Christmas catalogs already showing up in mailboxes, it's a good time to think about reducing unwanted mail. Recycling your junk mail is a good start, but it's even better to try to prevent it from coming at all. King County has two new resources to help reduce unwanted mail. At home, get the newly revised flier, "How to Reduce Junk Mail," and at work, log onto the National Waste Prevention Coalition's newly launched Reduce Business Junk Mail Website: http://www.metrokc.gov/nwpc. A clue as to the volume of unwanted mail can be found in a New York Times article that says the U.S. Postal Service delivers more than 87 billion pieces of "direct mail," or advertising mail, to households and businesses each year. A significant percentage of this is unwanted, or "junk" mail. To reduce junk mail to your home, call the King County Solid Waste Division or check out our Web site for the completely revised edition of "How to Reduce Junk Mail." It includes handy tear-off postcards to help people get off lists, plus a wealth of other information. To receive a free copy of the flier, call (206) 296-4466 Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30. It is also available on the Internet: http://dnr.metrokc.gov/swd/WASTERED/junkprevent.htm. Unwanted mail can be an even bigger problem at work than at home. According to the American Small Business Alliance, dealing with unwanted mail is "a drain on the time and resources of any business." At one office mailroom, a six-week study showed that the mailroom staff was spending 25 percent of its time sorting advertising mail. But businesses can't use the same strategies that households use to reduce unwanted mail. For example, the Direct Marketing Association's Mail Preference Service, which works for households, cannot be used for business addresses. To help businesses and other workplaces deal with the problem of junk mail, the National Waste Prevention Coalition launched the Reduce Business Junk Mail Website: http://www.metrokc.gov/nwpc. Click on "Reduce Business Junk Mail." The Coalition, which is coordinated through King County, is a nationwide partnership of solid waste professionals. The Coalition developed the Reduce Business Junk Mail Website because they could not find any existing resources to help businesses with this pervasive problem. Businesses and organizations that have used it have given it enthusiastic praise for being a useful resource. The Website is filled with valuable information including: How to have your business removed from two major business mailing lists, Dun & Bradstreet and InfoUSA. Examples of how companies and organizations have set up successful programs to reduce their unwanted mail, saving time and money. How to contact the National Waste Prevention Coalition's new Business Junk Mail Complaint Bureau. A model postcard to send to mailers to get off lists. Steps that your business can take to keep from getting placed on mailing lists in the first place. -end-

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