subject: Direct Mail Deliverers Meet Recycling Targets Well Ahead Of Schedule [print this page] More than three-quarters of direct mail and marketing material delivered in the UK in 2009 was recycled after being disposed of, putting the country well ahead of targets for reducing the amount of such material going to landfill.
In 2009, the British government and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) agreed that, by 2013, 70 per cent of direct mail materials should be recycled. But latest figures show that, not only has that target been easily exceeded, but it has leapt well ahead of schedule, with the proportion of direct marketing materials sent for recycling in 2009 reaching 76.5 per cent.
The DMA puts this excellent result down to two major factors a massive rise in domestic recycling, and the increased awareness by consumers, and their greater use of, the Mailing Preference Service, whereby households can opt out of receiving non-specifically targeted and addressed direct marketing home delivery. These changes in behaviour have had major impacts on both the amount of direct marketing material being distributed which fell by 348,600 tonnes in the first six years following the introduction of the voluntary industry accord in 2003.
The massive growth of recycling of home delivery items meant that 79 per cent fewer of these letters and packages were sent to landfill sites in that same period. In turn, in 2009 alone this is said to have saved more than 380,000 tonnes of emissions of greenhouse gases an amount which one average petrol car would have to travel one billion miles to emit.
A higher proportion of direct marketing materials is now claimed to be recycled than of general paper products overall, according to the Confederation of Paper Industries.
The reduction in the amount of such materials being distributed also means that delivery companies have to devote less time to handling them. This then means that home delivery services in general have become far more efficient, and as a consequence delivery companies can concentrate on more urgent items, getting more of them to their destination more quickly.
Of course, these aims have been greatly boosted by technology, which assists home delivery companies in many ways.
For example, it allows for the more efficient planning of routes before journeys begin, which contributes further to reductions in CO2 emissions. And if drivers know their route before they set out, home delivery companies can also offer their customers more accurate estimates of the arrival time of their consignments.
The Direct Marketing Association will continue talks with the Government Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and mail deliverers over increasing the efficiency of direct mail deliveries and thereby cutting the amount of materials both disposed of and recycled still further.
