The amount of waste produced by junk mail first became a real issue in 2003. At that time it was estimated that only 13 per cent of 'direct mail' (including both addressed and unaddressed junk mail) was being recycled.

To increase recycling levels, the Government and Direct Marketing Association (DMA) signed a 'voluntary producer responsibility agreement' in July 2003. As part of this agreement, marketeers promised to help increase recycling levels to:

• 30 per cent by the end of 2005;
• 55 per cent by the end of 2009; and
• 70 per cent by the end of 2013.

In addition, the DMA also pledged to:

• work with local authorities to promote kerbside collections of paper;
• make sure that marketeers use recycled paper for their mail-outs and avoid using materials which can cause problems with the recycling process (such as glue); and
• help reduce waste by improving the targeting of direct mail campaigns and by publicising opt-out services such as the Mailing Preference Service.

Until the introduction of the green door-to-door scheme, Royal Mail did very little to meet these targets. The company has never actively promoted its Door-to-Door Opt-Out, for instance. As a result, less than 0.7 per cent of households are currently opted out of receiving unaddressed mail items distributed by Royal Mail.

Publicising the Door-to-Door Opt-Out is not a part of Royal Mail's carbon neutral scheme. Instead, the scheme encourages businesses to adopt greener practices when producing mail-outs, and it commits Royal Mail to paying money into a carbon offset scheme to make up for the remaining greenhouse gasses produced by a particular mailing.