Royal Mail announces first sustainable mail customers

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Royal Mail today announced Black Horse Personal Finance and Standard Life as among the first customers to take advantage of its new bulk mail service that offers a lower price tariff for direct mail that meets environmental standards.

Black Horse Personal Finance, part of the Lloyds Banking Group, and Standard Life Healthcare expect to post their first direct mailings using the Sustainable Mail™ product in May.

And Royal Mail revealed that more than a dozen companies across a range of sectors are also finalising plans to send mailings through the Sustainable Mail™ product.

The product aims to encourage responsible behaviour by offering a lower price tariff for direct mail that meets newly developed environmental standards.

The Sustainable Mail™ product is priced up to 4.7 per cent lower than standard Mailsort® prices* and will be available to companies that meet criteria based on three key environmental needs - improved sustainability, minimised waste and increased recyclability.

Matthew Neilson, Head of Environmental Solutions at Royal Mail, said: "There has been tremendous interest in Sustainable Mail™ and we are delighted to announce Black Horse Personal Finance and Standard Life Healthcare as two of the first customers to use this service for their direct mail campaigns.

"We launched Sustainable Mail™ as part of our continuing commitment to helping businesses improve the environmental performance of their direct mail campaigns. Black Horse Personal Finance and Standard Life Healthcare fully satisfied our criteria and we are sure they will be joined by many customers who will take advantage of this product and work with us to reduce waste, streamline production and encourage recycling."

Paul Twiggs, Head of Marketing and Sales Development at Black Horse Personal Finance, commented: "We were delighted when Royal Mail announced its Sustainable Mail™ product to help enable us to meet our commitment to improve the environmental performance of our activities.

"Direct mail is an integral part of our marketing strategy and Sustainable Mail™ helped us to improve on the strides we had already taken to make our campaigns even more environmentally friendly."

Ronjit Bose, Head of Product, Standard Life Healthcare, said: "Standard Life Healthcare takes an active interest in the environment and the effect of our business on the community. The Sustainable Mail™ initiative to encourage sustainability, waste minimisation and recycling is in line with our long-term commitment to minimise our environmental impact and we are pleased to be one of the first adopters of the programme."

Sustainable Mail™, along with the Responsible Mail™ product offered by Royal Mail’s Wholesale division, are the first services available to advertisers that are consistent with the forthcoming BSI standard for Environmental Performance for Direct Marketing. The standard, PAS 2020, was announced in January with the backing of Royal Mail as well as others including the Direct Marketing Association, Acxiom and advertising organisation ISBA.

To qualify for the Sustainable Mail™ product, mailers must meet the criteria for two specifications - entry level, where prices of up to two per cent below normal Mailsort® tariffs are available, or intermediate level where this increases to 4.7 per cent.

The criteria to qualify for Sustainable Mail™ at the entry level include:
• The use of recycled fibre from recovered waste paper and/or virgin fibre sourced from a Defra approved forest certification scheme in all paper products
• The adoption of good data practices such as the development and maintenance of an internal suppression file as well as the checking of customer and prospects against the Mailing Preference Service
• The recyclability of all paper elements of the mailing, including window and padded envelopes
• A statement or logo, such as Recycle Now, on the outside of the mailing to encourage recycling of the item

Included in the intermediate level specification are requirements that:
• All printers, mailing houses or in-house mailing facilities used to produce a mailing must have an environmental management system conforming to BS EN ISO 14001
• No ultraviolet varnish finishes or rubber-based adhesives are used in the mailing
• Each item must give clear information as to how the addressee can register to unsubscribe from receiving information about any or all of a sending company’s products for one year

The full Sustainable Mail™ specification is available at http://www.royalmail.com/sustainablemail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Ends

Issued by Royal Mail:
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ
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Notes to editors:

*Sustainable Mail™ will be available on all variants of Mailshort®, except for Mailsort® Light, and for letters and large letters only.

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