Another simple strategy that has perhaps a more practical approach is offered here – [...]]]> Wondering how to reduce the amounts of junk mail you receive? Follow this link  Reduce Junk Mail for a simple, no fuss set of pictured instructions to eliminate one of our modern societies greatest evils. It’s an idea just crazy enough to work.

Another simple strategy that has perhaps a more practical approach is offered here – http://www.41pounds.org/impact/ . They offer a service at a cost of $41 for five years that promises to virtually eliminate the clutter of catalogs and mailings that fill your mailbox. Heck at that price they’re saving you at least that much in garbage fees or the gas it takes to drive to the recycle center.

Prefer to do it yourself? Here’s a solution for only $12.50 for five years – http://www.stopjunkmailkit.com/

And of course there’s a free method – http://www.backyardnature.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=567 . We like free.

Some quick junk mail facts:

• More than 100 million trees are destroyed each year to produce junk mail; that’s the equivalent of clear-cutting the entire Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.
• More than 62 billion pieces (four million tons) of junk mail are produced each year.
• A response rate of less than 0.25% is considered acceptable for the 500 million U.S. credit card solicitations that are mailed monthly.
• The average American receives 18 pieces of junk mail for every one piece of personal correspondence.
• Lists of names and addresses used in bulk mailings reside in mass data-collection networks. Your name is typically worth 3 to 20 cents each time it is sold.
• State and local governments and their citizens spend hundreds of millions of dollars per year to collect and dispose of bulk mail that does not get recycled.
• The energy used to produce and dispose of junk mail is equivalent to the energy required to operate 2.8 million cars.
• About 28 billion gallons of water are wasted to produce and recycle junk mail each year.
• The average American wastes about 70 hours a year dealing with junk mail.
• 44% of all junk mail goes into the landfills unopened.
• Junk mail accounts for the majority of an average household’s paper waste.
• 40% of the solid mass that makes up our landfills is paper and paperboard waste.
• Transporting junk mail costs $550 million a year.

Now if we could just figure out a way to eliminate all that pesky spam. (This would work.)