Local Authority communications case study: Hackney Junk ... · 100% of the participants recycle their junk mail. 96% of the respondents would prefer not to receive junk mail at all.

Local Authority communications case study: Hackney

Junk Mail Stickers: Evaluating the Impact London Borough Hackney

Key Facts

■ Letterbox stickers resulted in a 51% reduction in junk mail.

■ Junk mail was reduced by 3.73kg per household.

■ If this is applied to the 50,000 low rise households in Hackney this would mean 187 tonnes of waste would be diverted from householders bins not necessarily from final disposal.

■ A sticker cost £0.53 and the packs £0.98 each.

About Hackney

■ 98,000 households, of which 51% consist of high rise buildings.

■ 208,000 residents. ■ BAME population is 52%; black,

Turkish, Vietnamese, and Jewish. ■ Unemployment is 16%.

Introduction Hackney Council had run a number of promotions to persuade residents to take action to reduce junk mail but did not know the effectiveness of their efforts. These promotions centered on a “Say No Junk Mail” pack, which includes a leaflet about MPS, a Royal Mail opt-out card and a sticker. To date Hackney has handed out 5,400 packs to residents.

They have run two main campaigns: ■ November 2006 to April 2007 - 1,500 packs were requested.

■ March 2008 - August 2008 - 600 packs were requested.

In addition packs were handed out at Summer events and during 2007 and 2008 in this time an extra 3,000 packs were given out.

The aim of the project was to verify and quantify the efficiency of ‘no junk mail’ sticker. The stickers are placed on residents letterboxes to stop leaflets from entering the household waste stream.

The London Borough of Hackney covers an area 19 square kilometres to the north-east of the city, making it one of

Local Authority communications case study: Hackney

the smallest London boroughs. Hackney council is a collection authority that forms part of the North London Waste Authority. Hackney’s population is ethnically and religious diverse.

The ApproachAn email was sent to council staff and to Hackneys “Green Champion” network ( a network of residents who champion recycling - an initiative run by the council) asking people to register to take part in the project . A voucher of £20 was offered to those that completed the two month tasks. A letter with main dates of the trial was sent to those who registered. The Council then phoned and emailed on specific days to remind volunteers of their tasks so that there was consistency across the group.

Thirty participants registered for the trial in August 2006 and 25 took part fully. The groups was made up of 17 (70%) from street level properties and 8 (30%) from high rise flats.

Trial ran between September and October to avoid any seasonal holidays. The residents were asked to collect all junk mail received in a cotton bag provided, as part of the trial, during the month of September. The tonnage was recorded and used as a baseline.

Residents were then asked to stick the No Junk Mail sticker to their letter box and to continue collecting their junk mail throughout October. At the beginning of November residents handed back the bags to the recycling team. Six participants were dropped from the analysis due to collection inconsistencies.

During the month of September the participants received on average 75% of the junk mail as unwanted leaflets and 30% was direct mail .This matches the national average.

Results/ConclusionsAfter gathering the results it was found that the sticker had reduced the delivery of unwanted leaflets by 100% for some participants and at least 30% for others. In total the 24 participants received 7.33 kg of unwanted leaflets in September and 3.6 kg in October.

A qualitative study showed that the majority of junk mail received originated from food outlets, such as take away menus, pizzas and supermarket promotions. However, the heaviest items came from estate agents. In some cases, these produced a weekly update of the housing market available in the area. The rest were related to the house DIY sector and charities.

Waste & Resources Action Programme

The Old Academy 21 Horse Fair Banbury, Oxon OX16 0AH

Tel: 01295 819 900 Fax: 01295 819 911 E-mail: [email protected]

Helpline freephone 0808 100 2040

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Local Authority communications case study: Hackney

A survey of the residents found: ■ 59% find junk mail annoying and 23% worthless: so 82% find it annoying and worthless.

■ Only 18% find it ‘occasionally useful’. ■ 74% think they received too much junk mail and 26% just about right.

■ 100% of the participants recycle their junk mail.

■ 96% of the respondents would prefer not to receive junk mail at all.

■ 77% think the sticker ‘worked’. The rest think that unsolicited addressed mail should have been stopped too. So if this question was asked again, this figure could increase.

■ 91% will continue to use the sticker. ■ 87% of those that answered did not miss receiving junk mail.

WRAP suggests that although waste is diverted from householders bins there is a question about if this waste is diverted from disposal. What happens to the mail not delivered? What do the distributers do with it? Do the companies that produce the materials actually print less?

Key Learning Points ■ Residents are more aware of the junk mail sticker than the MPS or Royal Mail ‘opt out’ service. Although it’s important not to offer too many choices to the resident its important to highlight other approaches to cut junk mail even further.

■ Tear off request with freepost in local council magazines have proved to be the best method to increase pack requests. However, emailing lists, website and roadshows have also form part of the campaign.

■ There are two ways to quantify the prevention of leaflets entering the household waste: by counting the number of leaflets received or by weighing these leaflets. Both were useful counting help determine the source of the mail.

■ The council were considering a door drop of the packs but have decided as a result of feedback from this project only to provide packs on request and to hand them out at events.

Contact Ander ZabalaWaste Prevention Officeremail: [email protected]: 020 8356 3806www.hackney.gov.uk/wasteprevention