Royal Mail announces successful launch for Sustainable Mail™

[TrueBlueTerrier]

http://www.news.royalmailgroup.com/news ... royal_mail" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Royal Mail today revealed that more than 60 customers have signed up to its Sustainable Mail™ service since it was unveiled in April this year.

Organisations including BHS, EDF Energy, Standard Life Healthcare, Hotel Chocolat, National Grid, Oxfam, NS&I and Black Horse Personal Finance have all signed up to the new bulk mail service, which offers a lower price tariff for direct mail that meets environmental standards.

Other companies include Hotter Comfort Concept, Kitbag Ltd, Seton, Safety Shop, Puresafety, Arcane Direct Marketing and Aims Direct. Additionally, home shopping leader Lands’ End has signed up to the initiative for its catalogue mailings.

More than 30 million pieces of direct mail have now being delivered through the Sustainable Mail™ service, which encourages responsible behaviour by offering a lower price tariff for direct mail that meets newly developed environmental standards.

Sustainable Mail™ 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 that so many brands have signed up to the service. The organisations involved have met our strict criteria, and we are sure they will be joined by many others willing to take advantage of this product and work with us to reduce waste and improving production.

"Adopting the specification will also increase the likelihood of the mailing being recycled with consumers claiming it would help them to recycle over 80 per cent of their existing direct mail**. This means that the more customers embrace Sustainable Mail, the more likely the industry will achieve its 55 per cent recycling target by the end of the year."

Sustainable Mail™ is consistent with the BSI standard for Environmental Performance for Direct Marketing. The standard, PAS 2020, was launched 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 2 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

For more information, contact Eulogy! on 020 7927 9999

Royal Mail:
100 Victoria Embankment
London
EC4Y 0HQ
http://www.royalmail.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Notes to editors:

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

**Research conducted by GfK NOP 2008

[Lounge Lizard]

That's just a sham.
Nothing about just sending a sheet of paper in a small envelope, no, carry on with your junk mail being more the size of a telephone directory, bad for the environment and even worse for our knees and backs.

[POSTMAN]

That's just a sham.
Nothing about just sending a sheet of paper in a small envelope, no, carry on with your junk mail being more the size of a telephone directory, bad for the environment and even worse for our knees and backs.

Dude,it keeps you in a job,think about it.

[andy2007]

And don't forget: Most people have bags or bins, to recycle paper and card. So it'll all just be recycled anyway. I know mine are.

[Big Daz]

LL

If your concerned about the enviroment then worry about all the electric being generated for electronic transactions rather than paper.

Sustainable mail being cheaper than mailsort might help prevent the DSA leeches taking our work.

[Lounge Lizard]

LL

If your concerned about the enviroment then worry about all the electric being generated for electronic transactions rather than paper.

Sustainable mail being cheaper than mailsort might help prevent the DSA leeches taking our work.

I wasn't denying that there's more than one way to care for the environment.

[Big Daz]

LL

If your concerned about the enviroment then worry about all the electric being generated for electronic transactions rather than paper.

Sustainable mail being cheaper than mailsort might help prevent the DSA leeches taking our work.

I wasn't denying that there's more than one way to care for the environment.

My favourite way of caring for the enviroment is :cfo :mfo :lfo all their hot air cant be doing the earths eco systems any good!!!!