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The Stranger -- Get the F### on This
,January 26th, 2010
In general, we're not big fans of the Seattle City Council wasting time on getting all fired up about problems that it's not in a position to fix. But here's one expression of council concern that was worth its while: the 8–1 decision, on January 25, to pass a nonbinding resolution calling on the state legislature to create a Do Not Mail registry that would give citizens of Washington the ability to opt out of getting useless, environmentally destructive junk mail every day in their mailboxes.
According to the nonprofit group ForestEthics, which pushed the measure, the American junk-mail business involves turning 100 million trees into 100 billion pieces of annoying solicitation each year. In doing so, the industry pumps out carbon emissions equal to nine million cars annually, all so that close to half of its mailings can go straight into landfills unopened.
