Say no to junk mail

Shropshire Council and their waste contractor Veolia are celebrating the success of a campaign to reduce the amount of unwanted mail that residents get.  

Over five billion items of direct mail are sent to UK households each year.  This means that, in the Shropshire Council area alone, nearly 60 million individual items or some 2,500 tonnes of unwanted mail is delivered every year.   

The latest figures provided by the Direct Marketing Association show that in the past year alone an extra 3,600 Shropshire households have signed up to the Mailing Preference Service.   This means there are now over 45,000 households on the register, which represents an 8% increase on last year.

Councillor Mike Owen, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member with responsibility for waste management, said:

“The overarching principle of waste management is to avoid generating waste in the first place, and so we encourage residents to sign up to the Mail Preference Service.  It is free and easy to register, just go online and enter your address details at www.mpsonline.org.uk.

“They cannot stop every single item but it does make a big difference.  The more people who sign up to this service the less waste we have to manage, which is good news for local council taxpayers and for the environment.”

Donald MacPhail, Managing Director of Veolia of Shropshire, said:

“Although residents can recycle junk mail, free papers, leaflets, fliers and envelopes through the kerbside recycling box collection scheme, it would be even better not to produce so much waste in the first place.  The MPS service is about giving people a choice to control what they receive through their letterboxes.” 

In the UK over 70% of junk mail is now being recycled.  

Mailing Preference Service (MPS) is a voluntary initiative run by the Direct Marketing Association, the industry body which supports your right to choose the mail you want.  With UK consumers generating over £25 billion worth of postal sales per year, there is clearly an economic case for marketing by post.  However, with thousands of tonnes of largely unwanted mail delivered to UK households, it’s also understandable why some people might take a different view.  The MPS allows you to make your choice known – so you get the mail you want and need.

MPS Registration line – 0845 703 4599, website www.mpsonline.org.uk, email  mps@dma.org.uk,