The Daily Telegraph

Breaking through the vicious circle of the wasteful delivery of junk mail

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SIR – An increase in the amount of unaddresse­d mail to be delivered by Royal Mail to households throughout the country (report, May 10) should be of concern to us all.

No doubt most will be consigned, unopened, to recycling bins. Royal Mail, it seems, is embarking on this increased delivery of junk mail purely from a profit motive, without regard for the waste of materials and energy in producing such vast quantities of unwanted paper.

If every recipient of junk mail from Royal Mail collected the items, marked them “Return to sender” and posted them into the nearest pillar box every Friday then the problem of junk mail would become that of the originator.

If such action was carried out nationally, how long would Royal Mail continue with its contributi­on to such a massive waste of natural resources?

G Fairclough

Harleston, Suffolk

SIR – I now get very few pieces of junk mail, having spent the past few months returning them all, unopened, to the given postcode. I write “No more, please” on the envelope – and it works.

Jean Macdonald

Hailing Island, Hampshire

SIR – By returning our unaddresse­d, unwanted junk mail to the sender via post boxes, we do our bit to recycle waste but also support employment.

Pam Barker

Bridgnorth, Shropshire

SIR – Those criticisin­g Royal Mail for delivering junk mail are overlookin­g two things. First, we live economical­ly comfortabl­e lives because of the success of free enterprise, which entails advertisin­g goods and services. Flyers form part of that advertisin­g and presumably produce sales for their senders, even if the majority of us put them straight into the recycling.

Secondly, Royal Mail is a business seeking to make profits. Why should it not encourage that business by informing customers of its services, including delivery of unaddresse­d mail? This would keep the cost of posting letters down for the rest of us.

Michael Staples

Seaford, East Sussex

SIR – Of course the Royal Mail encourages junk mail. After the ill-thought-out decision forcing the ending of its monopoly in 2006, it lost to cherry-pickers its profitable parcel post and mass mailings.

The financial stability of a reliable, cheap postal service was wrecked. Instead of parcel profits being ploughed back into letter post, they went to specialist companies. Letter post is still struggling. What should it do but try to survive against the odds?

Monopolies need a watchful eye, but they are not always wrong.

Mik Shaw

Goring-by-sea, West Sussex

SIR – If junk mail is curtailed we would miss our daily delivery of rubber bands and would have to buy them.

Melvyn Owen

Somersham, Huntingdon­shire

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