Canadians and celebrities (not necessarily Canadian celebrities) have already launched campaigns meant to make North Americans think twice about the obscene amount of junk mail that is sent out to unsuspecting homes  every day. Adrian Grenier and Alicia Silverstone are avid supporters of the Do Not Mail campaign in the U.S., while across the border Canadians started the Red Dot campaign to educate people on the ways they can put an end to junk mail.

Not only is junk mail a huge contributor to paper waste ending up in landfills, but mail order companies are doing their fair share to add to the problem as well. Instead of encouraging environmental responsibility, these companies are destroying forests for the sake of producing new updated catalogs every few weeks. The worst part is, most of the time the catalogers are nearly identical to the last one sent out, with minor changes made to the cover and the inside content. Some irritated consumers are saying enough already!

Mail order companies use an astonishing amount of both trees and water to produce literally tons of catalogs every year, and subsequently send them to millions of people around the country, many of whom like me, have tried unsuccessfully to remove their names from direct marketing lists.

Those Web sites that contain information on where to go in order to have your name removed are virtually useless. I know because I've gone to a vast number of them, and even paid a small amount of money to stop the catalog madness.

Now I get more catalogs than ever before!

As consumers, we are constantly being instructed to "Go Green" and conserve trees, water and just about everything else we use, and to recycle in order not to pollute the environment. And, yet, every week I receive more unwanted catalogs, advertisements, phone books that don't even contain numbers in my area, and a host of other items I don't need or want.

As the average consumer, I am apparently responsible for disposing of this clutter in a "green" manner; it is up to me and millions like me to "Go Green."

I have an idea!

Our government could take a moment from their never-ending bickering over everything and suggest to these thoroughly wasteful mail order companies (especially those who constantly complain about ever-increasing postage), that if they -- as big business -- attempted to curtail their own wasteful practices of producing far more refuse than can be recycled, a lot of natural resources could be saved in the process!

Even if the government doesn't become involved, these companies should be taking the initiative to reduce their wasteful practices. What about launching some email and web-based deals? Cut the number of cataloger editions mailed out in half (or even by two-thirds) and offer incentives like special discounts and offers for people to browse online. Most consumers spend more time camped out in front of their computer screens than lounging on their couch scouring catalogers anyway and if they can save some money while companies save some trees, than all the better.

» Chicago Daily Herald