Thursday, July 31, 2008

Going Dutch

Mom Go Green has been running a fun “Green Genius” contest, soliciting and posting tips from readers. While I was reading these I noticed a post about a Dutch practice that is genius itself in its simplicity. Dutch residents simply post stickers Nee or Ja as to whether or not they want to receive promotional (junk) mail, and do the same for the daily paper. These dual sided stickers grace a bank of mailboxes in one of the blog’s photos, underscoring the simple logic of recipient choice. I posted in May about a similar practice in Canada, courtesy of the Year of Living Greener blog.

Why are such simple solutions so difficult to implement here in the U.S.? Beats me, but it seems silly that, try as I might, I can’t get the mail carrier to stop leaving the glut of weekly glossy (and wholly unwanted) fliers, which she said she’s obligated to deliver since the sender has paid for the mailing. Yet another reason to Go Dutch!


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3 comments:

Unknown said...

It's a wonderful idea! Leave it to those thrifty Dutch! I absolutely love your blog and the opportunities to give! So easy to do, after many weeks of checking out other Etsians blogs, yours is the first I will subscribe to! Thank you.
Jaci VanLeeuwen

jen x said...

Jaci, what a sweet comment, thank you!

OK, I'm off to see if *you* have a blog so I can visit :-)

x said...

I get piles of junk mail each day. I'm annoyed by it because it ends up sitting in my car every so often making it look like a trash can on wheels. I then feel guilty when I have toss it all away too! I'm looking forward to winter becuase I have a fireplace. I'm going to start rolling all of those newspaper ads into tubes and turn them into fireplace starters! But...for now....it's a waste! Grrr!