Bit of a cheek

As you probably know, I'm not a great environmentalist. However, I certainly agree that we should recycle as much as reasonably possible.

But, as I've said before, reuse is better than recycling, and not using something in the first place is even better still.

In particular, one of the things that I most object to is the endless flow of junk mail through the post, almost none of which is of any relevance. I find these particularly annoying - not only is there the waste of recycling the envelopes (which shouldn't be used at all), but there's also frequently a need to shred the letters themselves before recycling, adding a waste of energy to the offense.

I find it particularly galling when the spam mail comes from companies who have my email address. If they absolutely must send me this junk, they could at least do it electronically, and so generate less waste. (Frankly, I'd rather they just not send it at all, but that's probably too much to ask.) And the absolute worst, of course, are those companies who have my email address, do send me their junk electronically, and then feel the need to send me yet more junk through the regular post!

My bank are perhaps the worst offender of all in this regard. It seems I can barely go a week without getting an offer of a credit card, or a loan, or a mortgage, or house insurance, or... (And, infuriatingly, even if I wanted any of these things from them, it's almost always best to ignore their correspondence and use their online-only specials through Digital Banking. They're wasting all this paper to make me aware of offers I know about, don't want, and know are less good than their other offers!)

Aaargh!

Anyway, on Sunday morning, I went through a batch of junk mail that had built up, recycling some, shredding others. This included yet another offer of home insurance from my bank. And, on the back of the envelope, bold as anything, was a Recycle reminder from my bank!