According to the Native Forest Network, the average mail recipient receives some 560 pieces of junk mail a year, and simply tosses almost half of it. That’s adds up to 4.5 million tons of unrequested bulk mail sent each year, or the destruction of 100 million trees.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take to dramatically reduce the mayhem in your mailbox:

• To stop the flow of credit-related offers, request that credit reporting agencies, the chief source of names for mailing lists, stop sharing your information.
• Visit the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service and request that your name be removed from the mailing lists used by its member companies.
• Do the same at DirectMail.com, a similar service.
• If you help manage a business, join the EcoLogical Mail Coalition. This organization operates a free business mail preference service similar to the DMA’s above.
• Selectively reduce the catalogs you receive. Simply register your address, and search the master list for catalogs you want to stop receiving. You can update your preferences at any time.
• A similar service is available from Stop the Junk Mail. Unlike the others, this organization charges $20 for its services. The advantage here comes in the form of additional perks like help with companies that fail to honor your request to be removed from their mailing lists.
• Call the companies you do business with and ask them not to share your name with other direct mailers.
• Similarly, when you buy something from a catalog or request a copy of one, tell the company not to share or rent your name .
• When you request a new catalog, use a different middle initial or slightly alter the spelling of your name each time. This way you can trace any unsolicited mailings back to the culprit who sold your name.
• Look for “do not share my name” and/or “do not add me to your mailing list” options on order forms.
• If you receive multiple mailings of the same catalog in your household, call the company and ask them to delete the duplicates. Keep your mailing labels handy so you can identify the exact spellings of names, etc.
• If you move, be wary of the Postal Service's Change of Address card. While filling out this card will stop junk mailings to your old address, the Postal Service also sells its Change of Address list to direct marketers. Directly notifying friends, family and business contacts about a move may take extra time, but the payoff will be worth it.

For more information about junk mail, visit JunkBusters and read Native Forest's Stop Junk Mail Guide.