Recycling: the facts
- According to the US Postal Service's 2005 Household Diary Study, the average American household receives 18.5 pieces of advertising mail each week.
- From the same study, consumers do read their mail. In fact, 85 percent of US households usually read some or all of the advertising mail they receive.
- The Environmental Protection Agency found that direct mail accounts for only 2.2 percent (in weight) of the total municipal solid waste generated in the US annually.
- According to the American Forest & Paper Association, a record 53.4 percent or 53.5 million tons of the paper consumed in the US was recovered for recycling in 2006. Paper recovery now averages nearly 360 pounds for every American.
