"Grave concerns" over junk mail
Householders are unlikely to welcome potential increases in junk mail
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Monday, 09, Oct 2006 12:24
The Local Government Association (LGA) has expressed its grave concern at the Royal Mail's decision to increase the amount of unaddressed mail it delivers to households every week.
Councils believe that with the firm lifting previous restrictions that placed limits of three items of junk mail every week to an individual address, taxpayers will feel the brunt in terms of increased costs and damage to the environment.
Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of the LGA, has today written to Royal Mail to highlight his worries.
"I am concerned that the expansion in junk mail will lead to an increase in the amount of paper that is either thrown into landfill or has to be collected in recycling bins. This comes at a time when councils are trying to minimise waste, increase recycling and are striving to provide value for money to the taxpayer," he said.
The LGA chairman revealed that 3.3 billion items of unaddressed mail, or 78,000 tonnes worth, were delivered in Britain in 2005, which itself was a 12.5 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
"The amount of waste generated is already increasing at about three percent a year in volume, has led to a 15 per cent rise in landfill tax this year and £206 million more of council taxpayers money being spent on collecting and disposing rubbish in the last 12 months. The collection and disposal of rubbish is one of the key financial pressures facing local councils in the coming years," an LGA spokesperson explained.
Speaking to the Today programme, Mr Bruce-Lockhart said that Royal Mail should also be more forthcoming about the junk mail options open to householders.
"They do actually have a phone number and a website where householders are allowed to stop junk mail coming to them, and yet they seem remarkably coy about that," he said.
Earlier this year a postman was suspended from his job after telling local residents how they could opt out of junk mail schemes, but Roger Annies, 45, was later reinstated by Royal Mail.
Meanwhile, the postal services regulator Postcomm has announced that it is launching a consultation on Royal Mail's delivery and collection times, amid concerns that the company's decision to bring forward final collection times had resulted in rural residents experiencing unnecessary postal delays.