The environmental impact of physical and digital junk mail

​By Ivan Chen

The environmental impact of physical and digital junk mail often goes unnoticed. (Credit: geric10/Pixabay)

Our mail is often accompanied by a variety of “junk.” From restaurant promotions to shopping catalogues, this unwanted material is seen as a nuisance by many. Unfortunately, it’s not just limited to your physical mailbox — junk mail also comes in emails. 

While junk mail may seem harmless, it carries numerous environmental impacts. Physical junk mail consumes resources like trees and water, while digital junk mail quietly uses up energy and data storage space. Many people may overlook junk mail, but reducing it can be a simple way to minimize your environmental footprint.

Physical junk mail

Physical junk mail has existed for a few centuries — dating back to around the mid-to-late nineteenth century — when advertisements began appearing in newspapers and mail. Production of junk mail coincided with the growing culture of consumerism, as it enabled companies to relentlessly promote their products or services.

In the United States, over 100 billion pieces of junk mail are delivered every year. Creating this junk mail requires millions of trees and billions of litres of water. The process also produces more carbon dioxide equivalent than two million cars.

Junk mail also has to be transported, sometimes across long distances, which takes up space and weight. This can add to emissions.

Despite all the resources required to make this mail, it ends up delivered, read for a moment (if at all) and discarded in the garbage or recycling.

Digital junk mail

The first known digital junk mail was sent in 1978, when a marketing manager sent an email advertisement to about 400 people. Fast forward to today, nearly half of all global email traffic is spam, which can amount to tens of billions of spam emails sent out to people every day.

Unlike physical junk mail, digital junk mail doesn’t clutter physical spaces. However, it clutters email inboxes and quietly consumes energy. Like regular emails, spam mail requires electricity to transmit through data transmission networks and to be stored in data centres. This infrastructure that powers the internet is energy-intensive and runs nonstop.

The electricity used by emails can generate a range of carbon dioxide equivalent, a measure that converts different greenhouse gases into a single carbon dioxide-based value. Some factors include the length of the email and the number of recipients — the longer the email and the higher the number of recipients, the more electricity is used. Most emails average about 1-2 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent. That may sound insignificant, but multiplied by billions of emails per day and the impact stacks up quickly.

Why we overlook this problem

As mentioned above, many of us may overlook the problem of junk mail because it seems insignificant. Tossing a few flyers or receiving some unwanted emails each week often does not feel like a big deal. 

The physical junk mail is visible, but it has become so common in society that people don’t think much about it. Digital spam has also become a part of life, but its environmental impact almost feels invisible. Together, they feel more like an inconvenience than a major problem.

Reducing junk mail’s environmental impact

There are actionable steps to cutting down on junk mail, both physical and digital. 

For physical mail, Canada Post offers the Consumers’ Choice program, where Canadians can opt out of receiving junk mail. This includes:

• Flyers and restaurant menus
• Free product samples and coupons
• Unaddressed magazines and store catalogues
• Notices from non-profit organizations
• Offers from banking institutions and telecommunications services

If you’d like to stop receiving junk mail, simply put a note in or on your mailbox where the mail carrier can see it, stating that you do not want to receive junk mail. While opting out may not necessarily stop advertisers from printing junk mail, it can still help reduce your personal footprint and signal that people care about sustainable communication.

Similar steps apply to digital mail. Try to minimize your digital presence by avoiding signing up for too many newsletters and subscriptions, or any other platform or service that requires your information. Make sure to periodically review existing subscriptions. 

Deleting old emails is another small step that can help lessen the load on those data centres.

Summary

Junk mail might seem like a minor environmental issue, but across billions of people, its footprint is significant. The solution isn’t necessarily to stop communicating, but to do it more thoughtfully. 

Choosing to unsubscribe and be mindful about the messages we send or receive can make these overlooked aspects of life a little more sustainable. 

Edited by Jess Blackwell