Get Your Junk out of My Mailbox

This week, I’m using my reflection space for a bit of a rant.

I have a sign on my mailbox, “No Junk Mail”. Each time I check my mailbox, low and behold, it is full of junk mail.

Upon my return to Canberra earlier this week from Perth, I checked my mail to find leaflets upon leaflets about the need to decrease our use of paper. The irony was not at all lost on me.

I cannot understand for the life of me why an organisation which is advocating for saving the environment would send out a paper information sheet. There must be a far better way to do this, including approaching small businesses to provide space in their e-newsletter for the environmental organisation as part of the business’ corporate sustainability commitment.

While I understand that mail drops are a successful way to market, as the owner of a letterbox that asks for no junk mail, all junk mail is immediately put in the recycling as a matter of principle. On top of that, my respect for organisations advocating for the environment and using this method of advertising drops significantly. With the incredible influx of social media and marketing agencies, there must be a way to advertise their ideals and simultaneously stay true to their values.

In my work with Strategic Sustainability Consultants, one of the main aspects of…