Category: Green Tax

Today was the third day in a row that we received 3 pieces of the same junk mail, and on 1 day, we received 2 copies of the same thing, Royal Mail, Ocardo and McCarthy Stone. So 4 copies of each in 3 days.

–

It crossed my mind that is a huge quantity of Junk paper that is being delivered and disposed of each day and I have to pay for with higher council taxes.

–

So just how much junk mail is being delivered?

–

There are 28.4 million households in the UK and if each have 20g (3 pieces) of Junk delivered for 4 days per week, that equates to 568 t per day (568,000kg) or 118,144 t per year. (studies have shown on average 650 pieces of junk mail are distributed to each household per year , giving a total of 17.5Billion per year)

–

This is therefore costing at least £15m per year to dispose of. Whilst this is not much in the scheme of things, it is just a “waste of paper”.

–

For my local council, Chester and Cheshire West, we are disposing and estimated 480t per year in Junk Mail.

–

This is also not doing anything for the environment.

–

So what would i do.

–

I would ban junk mail distributed without a licence. If you do distribute, you will have to purchase a licence from your local council.

–

For small businesses with turnover less than £250,000 per year, the licence will cost £100 per year if delivered by hand by an employee of the business.

–

For larger businesses with a Turnover over £250,000, the licence is £1500 per council district plus 1p per piece.

–

The benefits of the above is that this will either discourage the ever growing trend of Junk Mail or providing an income to the councils who have to deal with the waste.

–

I hope this will actually reduce the waste, but if companies continue to target household without their consent, they will have to pay for the privilege.