Recycle Your Christmas Cards! (or) Earth Class Mail Thriving at Intersection of Entrepreneurship, Corporate Social Responsibility and Recycling

The world still has a long way to go toward recycling even half of our waste stream but that doesn't mean that the news is all bad. In terms of technology, we have the means to recycle the bulk of what residents of the industrial world discard every day but we have failed to take the necessary steps to make it happen uniformly.

An area in which have have yet to excel is writing paper, including tons of long-grain fiber used in desktop printers every day and the related challenge, mail.

What should we do with those items?

Well, the clever folks at Earth Class Mail have created a solution which is a large step in the right direction. Simply put, this firm of enterprising individuals divined that collecting mail at a central point which is near to a recycling facility and then offering to scan the mail so that customers can view it online would have several key advantages.

Think about it. If you travel quite often, wouldn't you agree that it is an inconvenience to have to come home in order to read your mail. Moreoever, do many of us now wait for checks to arrive in the post? In my world, the bulk of payments come by ACH (direct deposit). That's why Earth Class Mail has been such a success and garnered so much attention. Good for them!

From an environmental perspective, this service has the potential to put a real dent in postal waste but it's important for us to remember that what never is printed in the first place never has to be recycled. So, it is incumbent upon all of us to reduce the junk mail which we receive. Earth Class Mail has guidelines in that regard to but to my American countrymen, I offer some additional advice.

Use a junk mail blocking service. My favorite is GreenDimes.com. For just $20 a year, I gain great assistance in reducing the junk mail which I receive.

No matter what leads you to recycle your mail, though, I am confident that you'll agree with me that the history of Earth Class Mail is a storied one worthy of dissemination. You can share in it through the television show Start-Up Junkies. It did an in-depth set of episodes on Earth Class Mail and you can watch the whole think on hulu.com.

Episode 1 is embedded here for your convenience and addiction.