Under a voluntary agreement with Defra signed in 2003 the industry committed itself to increasing recycling levels for junk mail to 55 per cent by the end of 2009. According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) the target has been more than met; currently 76.5 per cent of all 'direct mail' is being recycled. The latest figure is up from 28 per cent in 2005 and even beats the 2013 target of 70 per cent. The DMA's definition of 'direct mail' includes both addressed and unaddressed junk mail, as well as inserts in free newspapers.

Envelopes still problematic

The increase in recycling rates for junk mail is in line with the increase in recycling rates for paper in general and is largely the result of increased kerbside recycling by local authorities. The research confirms that there are wide regional variations in recycling rates for paper and junk mail; in councils with poor recycling provisions the amount of paper (and junk mail) that is being recycled is significantly below the national average, whereas councils with comprehensive kerbside recycling schemes are achieving paper recycling rates of over 95 per cent.

According to the DMA both the industry and local councils should do more to provide information about what junk mail can and cannot be recycled. In particular window envelopes are a problem as many local authorities do not recycle these. The study indicates that just over 50 per cent of respondents would recycle more junk mail if they had more information about whether of not it could be recycled.

Failing opt-out schemes

As part of the voluntary agreement with Defra the junk mail industry also committed itself to promoting opt-out services for junk mail. For the first time the industry has revealed how many household are currently signed up to opt-out schemes for unaddressed junk mail; 198,000 households (0.7 per cent) were registered with Royal Mail's Door-to-Door Opt-Out in April 2009. A negligible 0.006 per cent of UK households (1,600 in total) has signed up to the DMA's Your Choice Preference Scheme for Unaddressed Mail. In comparison, more than 4.5m people are currently register with the Mailing Preference Service, the DMA's opt-out scheme for addressed junk mail.

Since the voluntary agreement with Defra was signed in 2003 addressed junk mail volumes have fallen by 22 per cent, from 4.2 to 3.2 billion items per year. For the last three years response rates have remained steady at just below 5 per cent. Earlier this year it was claimed that the total number of unaddressed mail items had fallen to 9 billion in 2008, down from 13 billion items in 2003.

Links

• Direct Marketing Material Waste Prevention Report (dma.org.uk)
• Producer responsibility voluntary agreement (defra.gov.uk)