Whether you're a business looking to invest in a direct mail campaign or are someone who receives a lot of direct mail yourself, you probably have a few questions about it all.
- How is it produced?
- Where do the materials come from?
- Where does it all go when disposed of?
It’s the third of these questions that we’re going to focus on here.
Direct mail and recycling
While the statistics around direct mail point to how lucrative a marketing channel this can be, the bottom line is that nearly all direct mail ends up being disposed of somehow.
What we all should want to ensure is that as much of it as possible is recycled. This ensures that direct mail remains as sustainable and as cost-effective as possible. If you're a business using direct mail, you can encourage your customers to recycle and talk about your eco-credentials in your corporate social responsibility strategy.
People care about what you're doing in this respect these days. Knowing the extent to which your direct mail is or can be recycled could be the difference between winning a contract or seeing it awarded elsewhere.
While most people accept that recycling is essential, there are an awful lot of myths out there around recycling.
In modern direct mail, we tend to come across three materials the most: paper, plastic, and potato.
What should you be using if you’re looking to create the most environmentally responsible direct mail campaign?
The case for plastic
While most types of plastic are recyclable these days, businesses in all industries are increasingly trying to move away from plastic.
Why?
There are a few reasons likely to be at play.
First, many people still don't know that they can recycle most plastics. This isn't necessarily down to ignorance but is more likely to be a consequence of confusion. Depending on where you live, there may be different rules around recycling or the types of plastic your local council can take. It's still possible to go to the supermarket and pick up items with plastic packaging that tell you one piece is recyclable at home, but another needs returning to the supermarket or dealing with differently.
The outcome? Much more plastic ends up going to landfill than is necessary.
At the same time, even when we do send plastic to be recycled, numerous reports, including this one from The Guardian, claim that only a small proportion of plastic actually ends up being recycled. This ends up being burnt or going to landfill, too. Either way, there’s a huge environmental cost, even when someone has tried to do the right thing and recycle their plastic!
Nearly all direct mail that arrives through the door in plastic is non-recyclable. There is a great deal of research and consumers who receive direct mail wrapped in polywrap are less likely to want to receive your brochures in the future.
Bottom line? There is really no place for plastic in your direct mail, as even with the best of intentions, the chances are you'll end up damaging the environment as well as losing customers. If you’re still using plastic wraps, it’s time to reconsider that approach.
The case for potato
One of the most popular plastic alternatives used in direct mail is potato starch. Potato starch can be used to print marketing messages and act as an alternative wrapping to plastic when sending your direct mail.
The great thing about potato starch products?
They’re 100% recyclable – as long as the ink on them is water or vegetable based.
One of the downsides of using potato starch?
It’s only 100% recyclable if you have the means to recycle it, like a home compost heap or a compost bin, and after speaking to the Royal Horticultural Society we discover that it takes a year for one pack to compost to 90%. Receiving more packaging in potato starch is ok if you don’t mind your compost heap having lots of wrappings – but for those millions who have no compost heap?. As with plastic, you might also be limited by what your local council can collect and recycle, and for many councils, they are currently saying it takes too long for potato-starch wrapping to compost.
The result?
A vast proportion of potato starch wrapping either ends up:
Going to landfill.
Being mistakenly put into general recycling, which then contaminates the recycling and may lead to all recycling in a specific batch becoming unrecyclable. This then ends up going to landfill or being burnt. Again, bad for the environment.
Potato starch paper and wraps are better than plastic for the environment if you can guarantee everyone you're sending your mail to has the means to recycle it. Depending on your database, you may well end up with an audience segment that you know can recycle potato starch. Still, you'd need a considerable number of customers to make this cost-effective!
If you’re looking for the most eco-friendly direct mail solution, you should aim to avoid potato starch just as much as plastic.
The case for paper
Opting for paper – both for printing your marketing materials and wrapping them – is the best approach to ensure your direct mail has as minimal an environmental footprint as possible.
Why?
Well, first of all, paper is universally recognised as being recyclable. While some wallpapers and wrapping paper still goes to landfill, any paper that you see being used in direct mail will be recyclable. While it's good practice for a business to include messaging on their direct mail to encourage the recipient to recycle, people will recognise it can go into the recycling anyway.
What’s more, the innovative and environmentally responsible direct mail companies will ensure the paper they use to produce your marketing materials is sustainably sourced. This approach ensures your direct mail campaign is as eco-friendly as possible at every stage of the process, and not just when your leaflets, postcards, or brochures are recycled. Beyond this, at Mamsmail, will also take an eco-friendly approach to all our internal waste paper processes, recycling 98% of all paper waste – we’re still working on the other 2%.
Learn more about Mams’ eco-credentials, including where our paper comes from and how much we recycle ourselves.
Contact Mams today to learn more about creating an eco-friendly direct mail campaign
Contact us now to discuss your direct mail needs, learn more about how we can help you execute an eco-friendly campaign, and to get your next direct mail campaign up and running.
