Direct Marketing

Change of address: Direct marketing has the chance to slash its contribution to the UK’s waste mountain

(THE INDEPENDENT) - At first glance, it may look as though the direct mail industry and the environmental lobby are at opposite ends of the green spectrum. After all, of the estimated 4.3 billion pieces of direct mail that are sent or hand-delivered to mainland UK addresses each year, well over half end up in landfill sites. But change is afoot.

Armed with its first ever environmental standard of best practice, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), representing more than 900 of the industry’s biggest players, is asking firms to take a critical look at everything from the quantity of material they generate to the amount of ink they use in creating it.

Launched at the beginning of this year, PAS 2020, which has been verified by the British Standards Institute, aims to provide firms with the tools to measure the environmental performance of each mailshot before it is despatched.

In the process, says Robert Keitch, the association’s chief of membership and brand, direct marketing has the opportunity not only to slash its own contribution to the country’s waste mountain – currently running at 2 per cent overall – but to earn some Brownie points among cynical consumers.

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