Meg Munn MP has joined forces with Planet Ark and the UK direct marketing industry to reduce the amount of “junk” mail that people receive every year.

 Together with Planet Ark co-founder, Pat Cash, and pop singer Dannii Minogue Meg Munn MP is helping to raise awareness of the ‘Mailing Preference Service’.

This free industry service allows people to stop receiving unwanted mail simply by registering their details at www.mpsonline.org.uk. Once people fill in the form, their details are removed from 95% of UK mailing lists. For the cost of a local call, people can also phone 0845 7034599.

“Britons receive nearly 4 billion pieces of direct mail every year,” says Pat Cash, the former Wimbledon champ. “This new campaign being backed by Meg Munn will give people in Sheffield the choice as to whether they want to receive advertising mail or not.”

Dannii Minogue, a long time supporter of Planet Ark, agrees with Cash that this is a positive move by the direct mail industry to reduce their impact on the environment.

“Everyone has a choice about what comes in their letterbox,” she said. “And the Mailing Preference Service will allow people to do this. However, we also need to recycle all of our unwanted post when we put our newspapers out for recycling.”

Ms Minogue’s call to action is backed by Meg Munn. “People need to fully use the recycling services being offered by Sheffield City Council” said Meg. “By recycling our unwanted mail in Sheffield, we can make a real difference to the environment,” she said.

To find out what can be recycled in Sheffield people should contact Streetforce on 273 4567 or visit www.planetark.com/uk

The ‘Mailing Preference service’ campaign is being run by the Direct Marketing Association in partnership with the international environment group Planet Ark. The Greater London Authority, ‘Rethink-Rubbish’ and ‘Recycle-More’ are also helping in the push to get the public and other councils to join this waste reduction campaign.

ENDS

For other campaign information, please call Lara Shannon at Planet Ark UK on

07789 776 599 or 020 7738 1991 or visit www.planetark.com/uk

Editor’s notes:

About Planet Ark

Planet Ark is the international environment group that was founded in 1991 by Wimbledon Champion, Pat Cash, and the global charity campaigner, Jon Dee.  Planet Ark is best known for its ‘World Environment News’ service, which is sponsored by the Reuters News Agency. This is now the biggest online environmental news service in the world. 

Headquartered in Australia, the Planet Ark Foundation runs campaigns that show people how to reduce their daily impact on the environment - at home, at work and in the community. These campaigns have been fronted by a range of well-known celebrities including Kylie Minogue, Pierce Brosnan, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Newton-John, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman and many others.

Planet Ark does not have a membership scheme. We seek lifestyle change, not loose change!

Much of Planet Ark’s work is carried out at the local community level via partnerships with councils, community groups and retail outlets. In fact, it’s the sponsorship from these partnerships that helps to fund Planet Ark - that way we don’t need to seek money from the public.

For further information about Planet Ark, or to register to receive our free daily environment news, visit www.planetark.com/uk

About the Mailing Preference Service (MPS)

The Mailing Preference Service allows consumers to register, free of charge, their wish to be removed from up to 95% of direct mail lists in the UK. It helps to ensure that the direct mail consumers receive is welcome mail, while also helping the direct marketing industry to reduce its wastage. This does not include companies with whom a consumer has dealt with in the past, or unaddressed mail.

Research shows that 35% of consumers are aware of the MPS, with currently 1.2 million names registered.

Consumers can register via the website www.mpsonline.org.uk or request an application form by phone on 0845 703 4599.

About the Direct Marketing Association UK (DMA)

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) UK was established in 1992 and is Europe’s largest trade association in the marketing and communications sector and represents almost 900 member companies. The DMA strives to maintain and support an effective and credible system of self-regulation that meets the expectations of consumers and businesses regarding the standards and conduct of the direct marketing industry and its members.

The DMA also seeks to promote consumer trust and confidence in direct marketing and administers and promotes a range of preference services that allows consumers to opt out of receiving unsolicited marketing messages by phone, fax, mail and email.  For further information visit www.dma.org.uk