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Mailers Combat Legislation, Customer Concern With Green Action

Mailhouses are faced with the prospect of "do not mail" legislation in several states--spurred, in part, by environmental concerns. So far, 12 states have introduced bills this year, says Ron Barnes, VP of state affairs for the Direct Marketing Association.

But mailers are taking steps to prove that they can, in fact, help the environment--and can do so voluntarily. "Each and every mailer needs to step up to the table to address both the misperceptions and the realities" of mailing's environmental impact, warns a recent Pitney Bowes white paper.

The white paper quotes a PB/DMA study that found consumers greatly overestimate mail's contribution to municipal waste. Half of the respondents thought mail counted for 53 percent of all landfill waste, but EPA figures say it's just 2 percent. Consumers have similar misconceptions on the environmental footprint of mail. However, most respondents said their opinion of direct mail would improve if mailers took eco-friendly actions in the future. And mailhouses are responding to that demand.

Alcom Printing of Harleysville, Pa., recycles all of its waste paper and cardboard. Last year it recycled 4,355,485 pounds of paper, 24,335 pounds of cardboard and more than 5,000 pallets.

Thanks to an employee idea, the firm also recycles the steel banding from skids of paper. The company recycled 7,346 pounds of steel last year and received $146.92 when it would have cost $231.40 to have it hauled to a landfill. Likewise, Alcom recycled more than 45,000 pounds of aluminum from printing plates and received almost $21,000. It would have cost $1,400 to throw the plates away.

Facilities manager Bob Jones says the company is constantly reanalyzing what it can recycle, "rather than throw it in a landfill." He sent out a memo this summer noting additional products that can be recycled--wrapper paper on end caps and around rolls or sheet stock, corners that are too short to use or are removed from pallets of incoming paper, and proofing plastic coming off plastic containers from prep.

And the same theories can be transferred to production. The company now uses soy-based inks and instituted an ink-mixing program to take unused colors and remix them into new colors for current jobs. This has saved waste hauling charges, as well as purchasing costs for new inks. The savings are passed on to customers, Alcom said.

It also uses direct-to-plate technology, which nearly eliminates the use of photographic film, reducing hazardous waste silver. Light bulbs, computer parts and used batteries also contain hazardous materials, so a recycling company disposes of these items. Further, the solvents Alcom uses to wash its presses now contain fewer volatile organic compounds than before, and the company has eliminated the use of isopropyl alcohol in the pressroom.

In Sioux City, Iowa, Mail House Inc. is recycling as much of its scrap paper and cardboard as possible and gives empty print and toner cartridges to a local school's fundraiser drive, said President Chris Shanahan. The school sends these items to be recycled and refilled.

Mail House reworked its pickup routes using GPS data loggers and Google Earth to maximize fuel use, is taking its recordkeeping electronic and considering paper instead of Styrofoam peanuts for packaging.

Additionally, Shanahan tries to use as much recycled paper as the equipment will allow. However, "there are certain standards where it just won't work in certain machines," he said. Another obstacle mailhouses may face in recycling can come from high-quality print jobs that require virgin sheets, according to Pitney Bowes. But it notes there may be additional opportunities in mail piece design. Many components, such as lift notes, envelopes, brochures and letters, could be printed on recycled paper stocks.

Meanwhile, international companies are also getting on board. UK mailing house Baker Goodchild has begun a "Plant a Tree" campaign, where it will dedicate a tree in the name of every new client that places a direct mailing campaign during 2008 and 2009. The company also offers environmentally friendly products, including paper made from 100 percent post-consumer waste and biodegradable products.

And there may be some pressure from industry groups making environmental actions part of membership requirements. For example, the Direct Marketing Association has added environmental commitments to its membership requirements. Members must now use the group's mail preference service monthly, instead of quarterly, said Pat Kachura, DMA's senior vice president of corporate responsibility. The mail preference service allows consumers to remove their mailing addresses from members' mailing and prospect lists.

The group is also encouraging paper suppliers to increase purchases from recognized forest certification programs. "We want our members to ask their paper supplies where the paper comes from to make sure it's not being sourced from any unsustainable or illegally managed forests," Kachura said.

"The other thing we're doing is encouraging our members to look at the packaging they use. That has to do with getting the right-sized package and sharing your policies and practices with your vendors--challenge them to provide packaging that is right-sized and more environmentally friendly."

In addition, DMA is asking its members to reduce CO2 by one million tons over the next five years. One way is to reduce the volume of undeliverable advertising mail by at least 25 percent--"we're really hoping to do more than that," Kachura said. To do this, DMA is working with the USPS and promoting the use of Postal Service address hygiene products.

USPS is doing its part by encouraging waste prevention through better list management. It is working with the mailing industry to reduce undeliverable-as-addressed mail by 50 percent by 2010. New address hygiene services such as Address Element Correction will be offered to improve the completeness and accuracy of mailing addresses, and mailers will be encouraged to update customer information more frequently and closer to the date of mailing.

The USPS' CASS certification allows vendors and mailers to test address-matching software packages and be certified by the Postal Service after achieving a certain percentage of compliance. When certification is completed, CASS-certified software may be used to obtain Postal Service discounts.

All CASS-certified software is tested annually unless the Postal Service delays a testing period. The currently certified Cycle L software's expiration date was extended last year from July 31, 2008, to July 31, 2009. Software developers can now start testing for the Cycle M requirements. This software is valid from August 1, 2009, through July 31, 2010.

But in addition to taking action, mailers must educate the public. DMA is finding that consumers "have a great concern about environmental issues and it's certainly one of the things driving do not mail efforts," Kachura said. Publicizing these changes may slow down momentum on the bills.
DMA's Barnes added, "We are demonstrating to policymakers that the direct marketing community takes the issue seriously and is working to address it."

April Hollis is assistant editor of Print Solutions magazine. Email comments to ahollis@psda.org.