Greens move to end city's 'junk mail misery'

22 January 2004

Green councillors in Brighton & Hove are tabling proposals to help manage the volume of 'junk' or unsolicited mail residents receive in the city.

They say that households especially in the citycentre are "drowning in a sea of junk" - much of it unaddressed advertising from large supermarkets. They will argue that a 'junk mail management strategy' is needed - including a city-wide public awareness campaign explaining how to reduce junk mail - at Brighton & Hove City Council's Environment Committee on 29th January.

Green Councillor Simon Williams said: "Brighton and Hove may be a city by the sea but we are also a city drowning in a sea of junk. We know that junk mail is a real problem after we delivered thousands of Green Party anti-junk mail stickers last year. In some areas every other household positioned them by letterboxes to discourage junk mail.

"However, we realise that junk mail is a complex problem as it comes via several routes. We also understand the businesses need to advertise by delivery of leaflets, especially small local businesses. We think that the Council, working with other partners such as the Royal Mail has an important role to help manage the volume and frequency of all types of unsolicited mail. It's time to get tough on excessive junk. This is in everyone's interest including advertisers as consumers will just switch off unless it is managed."

Greens point out that Brighton & Hove has one of the highest numbers of people living alone in the country according to the 2001 census data, making the city a very attractive target for commercial mailings as it is one indicator of affluence and consumer spending power. The city ranks eighth out of 376 Council areas in the UK for single person households. (2) With the new census results, Greens fear marketing companies using post code systems such as 'ACORN' will target post codes in central Brighton even more aggressively. (3)

"Excessive junk mail is bad on two levels," explained Cllr Williams. "We create approximately 1,000 tonnes of waste for landfill from junk mail in the city while there is significant 'nuisance factor' for people receiving excessive quantities of junk mail."

Greens believe this has become a serious problem in the city centre with uncoordinated deliveries of unaddressed retail advertising, especially in areas with large numbers of flats sharing one letter box. In these situations the volume of junk is drowning out 'bona fide' post with the risk that important items of post are mistakenly thrown away.

"We are calling on the Council to develop a strategy to include a public awareness campaign with leaflets and anti-junk letter box stickers. We want a voluntary code of practice for local businesses such as pizza and curry houses, to include best practice and possible co-ordination of deliveries to minimise excessive junk. We also want the Council to work with other councils and the large supermarkets to see if a national code of practice could be developed to manage regional unaddressed delivered junk mail."

Simon Williams' letter to Environment Committee below.

- Ends -

Notes to Editors

1. Mailing Preference Service

To reduce the amount of addressed junk mail people can write to the Mailing Preference Service, Freepost 22, London W1E 7EZ Tel. 02077 664410 and ask them to remove you from any mailing lists they have. Alternatively visit their web site: www.mpsonline.org.uk.

To prevent unaddressed Royal Mail-delivered junk mail write to:

Royal Mail Helpline, Beaumont House, Sandy Lane West, Oxford, OX4 6ZZ

2. 2001 Census

Brighton & Hove has one of the highest numbers of people living alone in the whole country, according to Census data. The city ranks eighth out of 376 council areas in the UK for single person households. (Brighton & Hove City Council Press Release Feb 13th 2003).

3. ACORN - Direct Marketing Profiles

ACORN stands for 'A Classification Of Residential Neighbourhoods. It builds profiles of post code areas using the census data. There are 1.7 million postcodes in the United Kingdom, the average postcode being shared by around 14/15 addresses. The marketing-data firm CACI has produced this classification to include every street in the country, fitting them into 17 distinct Groups, which, in turn, contain 54 'typical' ACORN neighbourhood categories.

4. Letter to Environment Committee 29th January 2004

David Panter
Chief Executive
Brighton and Hove City Council

16th January 2004

Dear David

RE: Proposal for a Council 'Junk Mail' Management Strategy

This letter is submitted for inclusion on the agenda of the Environment Committee meeting of 29th January 2004 under procedural rule 19.3.

We propose that the Environment Committee request an officer report on a Council-led 'junk mail' management strategy to help to reduce the quantity and frequency of unsolicited mail to private households in the city.

Junk mail can be a significant and often unwelcome element of the household waste stream. It is also a growing phenomenon - with the number of items sent to consumers in the UK doubling from 1.5 billion to 3.3 billion between 1990 and 1999. About 21 billion items (550,000 tonnes) of junk mail are sent out every year in the UK (Department for Environment, Food Rural Affairs).

Unsolicited mail comes in various forms including 'direct mail' (advertising messages individually addressed), door-to-door unaddressed advertisements posted by hand, inserts (e.g. advertising material in newspapers) and unaddressed regional mailings delivered by the Royal Mail and other mass delivery services. The latter is a popular channel used by large retailers - especially supermarket chains. We believe the volume of such mail is now becoming a significant problem, especially in central Brighton where there are large numbers of multiple occupancy dwellings sharing a single letter box. In these situations there is a temptation to deliver more items than there are dwellings to ensure full coverage.

We accept that unsolicited mail is an important means for businesses and even the Council itself to reach their 'customers' and that many consumers benefit from access to information of which they would otherwise not have been aware.

However we note the growing concern of householders in the city at the volume and frequency of all types of junk mail. This was demonstrated by the high response rate to a local Green Party anti-junk mail campaign in 2003 in which thousands of anti-junk mail stickers were distributed free and placed near letter boxes by thousands of households across central Brighton.

Although it is estimated (by Council officers) that less than one percent of the local domestic waste stream is caused by junk mail, in Brighton & Hove this still works out at 1,000 tonnes of domestic refuse a year. Nationally, only about 13 percent of direct mail (only one type of junk mail) is recycled although the Government has set higher targets with the Direct Marketing Association.

Concerns about junk mail are not limited to the quantity of waste. There is a significant 'nuisance' factor in receiving high volumes of unsolicited mail -whether directly addressed or unaddressed - especially when the junk mailings are mixed in with 'bona fide' post with the risk that important postal items are mistakenly thrown away.

The Committee should note that Brighton & Hove has one of the highest numbers of people living alone in the country according to the 2001 census data which makes the city a very attractive target for commercial mailings as it is one indicator of affluence and consumer spending power. The city ranks eighth out of 376 Council areas in the UK for single person households. (Brighton & Hove City Council Press Release Feb 13th 2003). With the new census results, we fear marketing companies will target post codes in central Brighton even more aggressively.

The problem of excessive unsolicited mail is complex and has many causes, many of which are beyond the scope of the Council to manage on its own. However we believe that there are strong arguments on waste reduction / sustainability grounds and through the Council's role as a community leader for it to take the initiative locally in developing a junk mail management strategy. This would involve working with other partners such as the Royal Mail to manage the problem 'at source' while focusing on public awareness of the routes to reduce receipt of unwanted junk mail among consumers.

The strategy could include:

1. A code of practice for local businesses using non-Royal Mail delivered junk mail e.g. estate agents and restaurants ( pizza / curry houses).

2. A public awareness campaign, possibly in conjunction with an existing national campaign such as that undertaken by the National Waste Awareness Initiative: 'Rethink Rubbish' to help reduce the quantity of unsolicited mail.

The campaign could include advice on the Council's website, information via City Direct, leaflets, adverts in local press and the use of library internet services to enable people to register with mailing list filters. The Council could develop anti-junk mail door stickers. The Greens' campaign demonstrated these are a popular 'last barrier' to discourage distributing junk mail.

Also important would be provision of information on registration with the Mailing Preference Service (MPS) for directly addressed mail and the Royal Mail Helpline for Royal Mail delivered unaddressed mail. It should be noted that many other Councils e.g. Shropshire County Council offer a more comprehensive junk mail information service than Brighton & Hove.

3. Council dialogue with significant users of unsolicited mailing channels to reduce volume and frequency of mail and to develop best practice.

These users could include significant national users of regionally delivered unaddressed junk mail service - e.g. large supermarket chains on the one hand and on the other significant local users of non-Royal Mail delivered mail services e.g. a local supermarket using a private delivery firm.

4. Sharing information and best practice at a national level on tackling excessive junk mail with other Councils, campaign groups e.g. Planet Ark; other partners such as the Local Government Association, DEFRA, the Royal Mail, and Institute of Grocery Distribution and providers of local distribution channels e.g. local newspaper distribution companies. Supermarkets often purchase delivery services at a national level in quantities of millions of households so a national approach would be needed.

We hope the Committee will agree that the Council has an important role to play in facilitating a more acceptable balance between users and receivers of unsolicited mail and that it will request an officer report on a junk mail management strategy.

Yours sincerely

Simon

Simon Williams
On behalf of the Green Group of Councillors

Green Member for St Peters & North Laine
Brighton & Hove City Council