Election mail drops frustrate residents
Political mail has been filling up people’s letterboxes despite no junk mail signs - leaving some residents fuming.
Leaflets, newsletters and flyers have been placed in mailboxes with signs such as ’’addressed mail only’’, ‘‘no circulars’’, ‘‘no junk mail’’ or words of similar effect.
Some residents have even received letters specifically addressed to them from political parties.
Grey Lynn resident Briar Wyatt has been trying to lead a zero waste lifestyle - she does not use plastic and has gone paperless at work.
Her letterbox has two stickers - one is an Ecomailbox sticker with ‘‘no advertising mail’’ and another with ’’no circulars’’.
Ecomailbox aims to reduce waste from unwanted circulars and provides free ‘‘No Ad Mail’’ stickers for letterboxes.
‘‘So coming home to have all this paper in our mailbox is a bit frustrating,’’ Wyatt said.
She has received election material from National, Labour and New Zealand First.
‘‘In the last couple of weeks, we’ve pretty much been inundated with mail everyday.’’
With an Ecomailbox sticker on their letterbox, Wyatt felt that her flat’s desire to be environmentally conscious was explicit and it was cheeky of parties to ignore that, she said.
‘‘It’s also frustrating to see this much waste produced through electoral advertising because it buys into the mindset of using something once and then throwing it away,’’ she said.
Auckland Council’s solid waste bylaw states all letterboxes regardless of whether they have signs asking for no junk mail, circulars or addressed mail only, can receive election material two tion material could be seen as junk mail to some people, political information was essential for people who were 18 and over.
Plus it kept voting and the election on people’s minds, she said.
‘‘The importance of voting can’t be underestimated,’’ Edwards said.