Welsh Conservatives launch consultation - nuisance junk mail

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Welsh Conservatives launch consultation on measures to tackle nuisance junk mail

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THE WELSH Conservatives launched a consultation on measures to tackle nuisance junk mail earlier this week.

The average Welsh household receives 453 pieces of unwanted mail annually, a third of which is discarded unopened.

It takes 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water to produce a tonne of junk mail.

In 2012, an estimated 17.5billion items of junk mail were produced, made from 9million trees and 16.5billion litres of water. This represents 4.4 per cent of the UK’s annual consumption of paper and cardboard.


The Royal Mail has schemes enabling people to opt out of unsolicited junk mail but awareness is low.

Welsh Conservatives want to consult on a range of options to tackle nuisance junk mail, including raising awareness of existing opt-out schemes and a possible levy paid by the sender per item of mail.

Funds raised by such a levy could be spent helping protect rural mail services, improving recycling rates and making our natural environment more sustainable.

Charities such as the Woodland Trust work to offset the environmental cost of junk mail.

Russell George AM, Shadow Minister for Natural Resources, said: “We are all accustomed to receiving unwanted junk mail, but for some older people, this nuisance can be distressing and intrusive.

“Some senders of junk mail deliberately target older people with scams, offers that seem too good to be true and pushy correspondence.

“The environmental cost of unwanted mail is enormous with millions of trees being felled every year to produce what some see as rubbish, not to mention the billions of gallons of water needed to produce the paper.

“Our natural resources are finite and we waste them at our peril.

“Welsh Conservatives want to consult on how the environmental threat of junk mail can be reduced through a range of measures including a levy charged to senders of junk mail, which can be reinvested in protecting woodlands and improving the mail service in rural areas.

“We want to start a debate about how this nuisance can be tackled to stop the seemingly endless flurry of unwanted mail that many people, including the elderly, receive on a daily basis.

“Welsh Conservatives are the party of low tax, big ideas. As a constructive opposition, we will continue to offer solutions to many of the problems facing the people of Wales.”

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Well I hope their first step is to get educated in the subject and be more accurate in their assumptions.

[Lounge Lizard]

Lansiwyd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig ymgynghoriad ar fesurau i fynd i'r afael â post sothach niwsans yn gynharach yr wythnos hon.

Mae'r cartref Cymreig cyffredin yn derbyn 453 o ddarnau o bost diangen yn flynyddol, mae traean o sy'n cael ei daflu heb ei agor.

Mae'n cymryd 17 o goed a 7,000 galwyn o ddŵr i gynhyrchu tunnell o lythyrau sgrwtsh.

Yn 2012, amcangyfrifwyd bod eitemau 17.5billion post sothach eu cynhyrchu, a wnaed o 9 miliwn o goed a 16.5billion litr o ddŵr. Mae hyn yn cynrychioli 4.4 y cant o'r defnydd blynyddol y DU o bapur a chardbord.


Mae gan y Post Brenhinol cynlluniau sy'n galluogi pobl i ddewis peidio â post sothach digymell ond mae ymwybyddiaeth yn isel.

Ceidwadwyr Cymreig am ymgynghori ar ystod o opsiynau i fynd i'r afael post sothach niwsans, gan gynnwys codi ymwybyddiaeth o gynlluniau optio allan presennol ac ardoll posibl a delir gan yr anfonwr am bob eitem o bost.

Gellid ei wario arian a godwyd gan ardoll o'r fath helpu i ddiogelu gwasanaethau post gwledig, gwella cyfraddau ailgylchu a gwneud ein hamgylchedd naturiol yn fwy cynaliadwy.

Elusennau megis Coed Cadw yn gweithio i wneud iawn am y gost amgylcheddol post sothach.

Dywedodd Russell George AC, Gweinidog yr Wrthblaid dros Adnoddau Naturiol,: "Rydym i gyd yn gyfarwydd â derbyn post sothach nad oes eu hangen, ond i rai pobl hŷn, gall niwsans hyn fod yn drallodus ac yn ymwthiol.

"Mae rhai anfonwyr post sothach targedu pobl hŷn sydd â sgamiau, cynigion sy'n ymddangos yn rhy dda i fod yn wir ac gohebiaeth ymwthgar yn fwriadol.

"Mae cost amgylcheddol post digroeso yn enfawr gyda miliynau o goed yn cael eu torri bob blwyddyn i gynhyrchu hyn y mae rhai yn gweld fel sbwriel, heb sôn am y biliynau o alwyni o ddŵr sydd ei angen i gynhyrchu'r papur.

"Mae ein hadnoddau naturiol yn gyfyngedig ac rydym yn eu gwastraffu yn ein gwae.

"Mae'r Ceidwadwyr Cymreig am ymgynghori ar sut y gall y bygythiad amgylcheddol post sothach yn cael ei leihau drwy ystod o fesurau gan gynnwys ardoll a godir ar anfonwyr post sothach, y gellir eu hail-fuddsoddi mewn amddiffyn coetiroedd a gwella'r gwasanaeth post mewn ardaloedd gwledig.

"Rydym am ddechrau trafodaeth am sut y gall niwsans hon mynd i'r afael i atal y llu ymddangos yn ddiddiwedd o post dieisiau bod llawer o bobl, gan gynnwys yr henoed, yn derbyn o ddydd i ddydd.

"Mae'r Ceidwadwyr Cymru yw'r blaid treth isel, syniadau mawr. Fel gwrthblaid adeiladol, byddwn yn parhau i gynnig atebion i lawer o'r problemau sy'n wynebu pobl Cymru. "

[Chelseablue]

Why don't the r mail give the customers a door to door informing them of the opt out facility!? Can u imagine the responses!

[freelunch]

Given that Conservative leaders are "close" to a media corporation who are also prolific mass-mailing producers, I can see these consultations going nowhere.
A levy on unsolicited mail will be viewed as anti-business.

[Lounge Lizard]

And do the Welsh Conservatives not realise that "millions of trees being felled every year" to print everything in a larger format to accommodate two languages ?

[redneck]

And do the Welsh Conservatives not realise that "millions of trees being felled every year" to print everything in a larger format to accommodate two languages ?

You can't mention that in Wales, an incredible amount of waste involved with that. The Conservatives also espouse free market capitalism to which the principle of delivering leaflets to promote products and services for a fee is familiar and praiseworthy. Once again we see principles being sidelined by politicos after an attractive headline.