The Mayor's Column
Junk Mail! I’m over it. I can’t believe how much junk is put in our letterboxes each week. Recently I removed our “No junk mail” sticker while the house was being painted. What an inundation of paper followed.
Previously, there was the occasional piece of advertising material in the letterbox. I never mind the flyer from someone seeking local work, or something with local information and I am always pleased when the local distributor delivers the Mosman Daily and wish I could get the terrific magazine 2088. But I was unprepared for the volume of unwanted advertising rubbish which now clogs my letterbox daily.
This morning I have thrown 15 pieces of such “literature” into the paper re-cycling bin. The weekends are worse. There is no room for the postal delivery. No wonder some residents do away with a letter box altogether and use a post office box.
I have noted a long-term vacant house which is regularly stuffed with junk mail even though it is obvious that no-one has collected it for decades. When there is no more room, the paper is stuck in every available nook and cranny to soak up the rain and eventually disintegrate. Even worse are the multi storey buildings where the problem is multiplied many times. The unwanted and unread paper blows down the street, into the stormwater drains, to clog up our harbours.
The environmental damage of sheer wastage of paper and the printing process must be enormous on a national scale.
Does anyone read this material? Is it really effective advertising? I can’t believe so.
I am calling on Mosman residents to take a stand and say NO to junk mail. I am asking Council to include a “No junk mail” sticker with your next rate notice. Please put it on your letterbox. As for my letterbox, it will have its sign back on today.
Cr Denise Wilton, Mayor of Mosman