CATALOG CHOICE GIVES CONSUMERS CONTROL OF THEIR MAILBOXES

Free Online Service Lets People Just Say No to Unwanted Mail

A new free online service gives users the power to choose the catalogs they no longer want to receive in the mail. Developed by a group of leading environmental organizations, Catalog Choice aims to improve the efficiency of catalog distribution by reducing the number of repeat and unsolicited mailings and promoting the best environmental practices in the catalog industry.

Each year, 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers. What’s the impact?

• Number of trees used – 53 million trees
• Pounds of paper used – 3.6 million tons
• Energy used to produce this volume of paper –38 trillion BTUs, enough to power 1.2 million homes per year
• Contribution to global warming – 5.2 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, equal to the annual emissions of two million cars
• Waste water discharges from this volume of paper – 53 billion gallons, enough to fill 81,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools

In the first two weeks -- 51,000 people signed up and stopped 2.7 million catalogs in total -- about 1 million pounds of paper annually -- equivalent to 7,000 trees or getting roughly 300 cars off the road for a year.

If you want to sign up, go to www.catalogchoice.org