The average American adult receives 41 pounds of junk mail a year, even though, as Newsweek reports, polls show that 89 percent of us prefer not to receive direct-marketing mail; 44 percent of it is never opened. Opposition from the U.S. Postal Service and the Direct Marketing Association has so far helped defeat passage of any Do Not Mail legislative relief in 19 states.

Low-cost initiatives like 41Pounds.org ($41 for five years includes a $15 eco-cause donation) and StoptheJunkMail ($20 a year) are coming to citizens’ rescue with services that solve 80 to 95 percent of the problem for us. Do-it-yourself types also can make it happen using how-to tips courtesy of The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse at PrivacyRights.org/fs/fs4-junk.htm, with an assist from OptOutPrescreen and CatalogChoice.

Nationwide annual benefits of getting out from under junk mail include: preventing production of greenhouse gases equal to the emissions of 9 million cars; destruction of the 100 million trees and use of 28 million gallons of freshwater it takes to produce 4 million tons of junk mail; $550 million in transportation costs; paper waste comprising 40 percent of the U.S. landfill load; and $320 million in local taxes spent on junk mail disposal. That is not to mention the estimated 350 hours each household spends sorting and shredding it to protect against identity theft and fraud.

For more tips, visit BigGreenPurse and search “control catalog overload.”