DMA and DEFRA sign agreement to cut waste and encourage recycling
The Direct Marketing Association and DEFRA today annnounced that they had signed a voluntary producer responsibility agreement aimed at ensuring that direct marketing material is produced and distributed in a manner which minimises waste and carbon emissions.
In particular, the DMA has committed to develop and introduce an improved single contact preference service for unaddressed mail by April 2012. This should provide a simple and flexible way for consumers to decide which types of unaddressed mail they would and would not like to receive. The DMA will also develop an updated standard that aims to encourage organisations with responsibility for direct marketing campaigns to adopt best environmental practices in the production and distribution of direct marketing material. The new industry standard will include controls which ensure the mailings are produced using materials that are capable of being recycled and contain messaging to help consumers easily recognise whether the mailing can be recycled. As part of its commitment, Defra will investigate what barriers exist to achieving higher recycling rates for direct mail, and identify actions to overcome these.
A copy of the agreement may be found here.