1 July 2007 - Wales' Sustainability Minister Jane Davidson has today announced that the country is considering banning junk mail.
The announcement comes shortly after the government in Westminster announced it is thinking about creating an opt-in system for junk mail, whereby people would only receive junk mail if they contacted a central register and added their name to a list.
Ms Davidson told Wales on Sunday: "We want Wales to be a green country and we need to drive forward that agenda. At the moment the responsibility for getting rid of junk mail sits with the person who receives it. We might want to turn that on its head and may consider a measure that will deal with this issue. Junk mail contributes nothing to the environment."
The Environment Agency estimates junk mail from households and businesses helps to create 4.6 million tonnes of landfill in Wales every year. In 2004 a National Audit Office report predicted Wales will run out of space for dumping rubbish by 2010.
Ms Davidson's words echo her proposal last month to ban or enforce a levy on plastic bags in Wales and is a reflection of the rising importance of environmental concerns among the public.
Friends of the Earth Cymru director Julian Rosser said: "Junk mail is certainly an increasing thing. It causes problems and if there's action that can be taken to tackle that then that is certainly something worth looking at."
Royal Mail, which makes millions every year from delivering junk mail, opposes any move towards a ban on junk mail. A spokesman said: "Our future depends on competing effectively in all parts of the market and that includes unaddressed mail. The revenue from unaddressed mail helps keep Royal Mail's stamp prices among the very lowest in Europe and we believe our customers would prefer our uniformed postmen and women to deliver this mail rather than someone else."
He added Royal Mail was working to become greener, including ways of cutting the carbon footprint of deliveries.
A spokeswomen from the Direct Marketing Association said: "The industry has done quite a lot to improve its environmental credentials. About 95% of paper used now is from sustainable sources and we want to improve on that by doing things like using environmentally friendly inks.
"Our membership is made up of everything from charities to banks - it is the whole UK business industry. There would be a lot of concern about the door to door service because a lot of charities and small local businesses use it to generate business. It would be quite something. A ban would hit all these things with the same hammer."