25 May 2007 - The government yesterday announced its new waste strategy. The strategy outlines how the government hopes to reduce the amount of waste we produce as a nation - and includes ideas to cut junk mail.
The waste strategy announced by David Miliband, the environment secretary, is a wide-ranging package of measures aiming to cut waste and increase recycling rates. Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Miliband promised to "not only to recycle and re-use waste but to prevent it in the first place".
One of the ideas that will be considered is an agreement with the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) which will allow people to opt out of receiving unaddressed mail. At the moment senders of junk mail can ignore the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) by sending items to a generic address, such as 'to the occupier'.
The MPS is a scheme funded by the direct marketing industry. The service aims to 'enable consumers to have their name removed from direct mailing lists used by the industry'. However, in the 20 years since the MPS was set up the amount of junk mail posted through letter boxes has increased year on year, leading to calls for a more robust system.
Another idea is to be considered is the introduction of a system whereby people have to opt-in to receive junk mail. However, Mr Miliband said there will be "voluntary agreements with industry", making it unlikely that an opt-in system will be developed in the near future.
Other measures include: