Day 58 of 365 Days Of Low Carbon Living: re-using and recycling paper begging letters.
Do you find yourself inundated with mail you haven’t asked for?
I do, especially as the end of financial and calendar years approach.
Perhaps you made a donation. Or signed a petition. And the amount of mail you receive increases dramatically if you missed seeing the little question of the form that determines whether you want to receive further communications from the organisation or whether it can share your details with like-minded organisations.
Once you get on a mailing list from an organisation that wants you to donate to it, you are likely to get plenty of mail – especially if you keep donating to it.
There are, of course, very good reasons for donating to charities. After all, they need donations to do their work.
And I recognise that they need to keep in contact with you so that you will keep wanting to donate to them.
The question is, though, what to do with all the mail?
The mail might be email or it might be ‘snail mail’ – or both.
With email, you can act on it or delete it.
But what about all the ‘begging letters’ that come by post?
It’s on paper. There’s the envelope it comes in, the letter – perhaps with some cards or leaflets or something else – and the form and envelope to send back with your donation.
Whatever you don’t reply back with can be recycled. Some people don’t even open the letters before putting them into the recycling bin.
Yet is that the best way to deal with it?
There are a couple of things to consider here:
- the paper itself – the wood, paper, energy and water that goes into making, printing and transporting it
- what is printed on the paper
The paper of ‘begging letters’
With any ‘waste’ it’s good to remember the hierarchy for dealing with it: re-use is preferable to recycle.
That’s because it extends the lifespan of the resources that went into making the products and getting them to you. For example, it takes a long time for a tree to grow, so why should it be used once and only briefly if it is turned into paper?
Furthermore, with a few exceptions, materials that are recycled tend to end up as lower quality materials. Paper is a case in point: each time it is recycled, the fibres are shortened – and short fibres make weak paper.
Just putting the paper in the recycling bin:
- wastes the resources and pollution that went into making the paper and transporting it to you
- dishonours the life of the trees (or other plants) that were killed to make the paper
The content of ‘begging letters’
One thing that is consistent with all paper ‘begging letters’: as well as information about the organisation and the cause, they contain your personal details:
- your name
- your address
and possibly some other information about you such as
- your phone number
- your email address
- your date of birth
This is all gold to anyone who wants to steal your identity – especially if all the information is conveniently linked in one place like a letter or form.
Putting all this information into your recycling bin makes it easily available for identity thieves.
5 steps for re-using and recycling paper ‘begging letters’
Here’s how I maximise the re-use of paper from my mail – while protecting my privacy.
I open the letter – then I pull it apart 5 steps.
First, check if any sheets are printed on only one side. If they are, set them aside for re-use e.g. for drafting.
Second, look through the letter and the form:
- find where your personal information is
- tear it out
- shred it
Third, put the rest of the letter, form and other paper contents into the recycling bin.
Bonus idea: pictures on the letters could be used for school, art and other projects.
Fourth, use the unused ‘return’ envelope for your own mail – just cross out (very well) the pre-printed addresses on the front (and remember to attach a stamp!).
Fifth, use the envelope that the letter came in for lists or other scribble paper. (For privacy reasons, I am careful not to use envelopes with my name and address on them outside of my home – in case I drop them.)
Here’s what it all looks like in summary (with apologies for not putting the piles in left-to-right order when I took the picture!):
- paper printed on one side – for re-use (e.g. for drafts)
- personal information torn out – for shredding
- rest of letter, forms, paper contents – for recycling
- unused ‘return’ envelopes – for re-use
- used envelopes – for re-use (e.g. for lists)
The challenge
How much use can you get out of your next ‘snail mail’ letter?
Join me!
Any change or challenge is easier if you have company along the way.
So let’s embark on this journey together.
- Read my blog every day for ideas, thoughts and experiences for living a lower carbon lifestyle, more in harmony with nature – while also adapting to the consequences of our damaged climate.
- Subscribe to get posts direct to your inbox.
- Commit to taking action yourself.
- Add a comment to let me know you’re joining in the effort to turn around our world so it can remain liveable – and what your experiences are.
- Share with others my posts and what you’re doing – our efforts, progress, experiences and challenges – on Facebook, on Twitter, in conversations with friends, on talkback radio and in letters to the editor. Use #LowCarbonLiving hashtags on social media.
A problem shared is a problem halved. We’re all affected by the changes to our world so we need to be all in on the action!
Till next time…