While I reuse and recycle paper religiously, I used to happily gather up the catalogs from my mailbox and check out the latest in gardening supplies and fashion. I somehow didn’t see my paper-use disconnect.
I’m apparently with the mainstream on this one in liking catalogs. Surveys show that the vast majority of us still prefer the printed page to looking at catalogs and magazines on the Internet.
Then, I heard that “Victoria’s Secret” sends out over one million catalogs a day. I checked: yes, a day! And lots of other names, like L.L. Bean, are close behind.
In 2012, over 12 billion catalogs were sent out in the US. That’s an average of 35 for every woman, man, and child.
What to do? Sign up – for free – with Catalog Choice. Look up the catalogs you no longer want and Catalog Choice will stop them. If you have some favorite catalogs you still want to receive, simply don’t include those.
And plant some trees.
“Fancy cutting down all those beautiful trees…to make pulp for those bloody newspapers, and calling it civilisation.” Winston Churchill, remarking to his son during a visit to Canada in 1929