Royal Mail “delighted” with Sustainable Mail
Royal Mail has revealed that more than 60 customers have signed up to its Sustainable Mail service since it was unveiled in April this year. Organisations including BHS, EDF Energy, Standard Life Healthcare, Hotel Chocolat, National Grid, Oxfam, NS&I and Black Horse Personal Finance have all signed up to the new bulk mail service, which offers a lower price tariff for direct mail that meets environmental standards.
Other companies include Hotter Comfort Concept, Kitbag Ltd, Seton, Safety Shop, Puresafety, Arcane Direct Marketing and Aims Direct. Additionally, home shopping leader Lands’ End has signed up to the initiative for its catalogue mailings.
More than 30m pieces of direct mail have now being delivered through the Sustainable Mail service, which encourages responsible behaviour by offering a lower price tariff for direct mail that meets newly developed environmental standards.
Sustainable Mail is priced up to 4.7% lower than standard Mailsort prices* and will be available to companies that meet criteria based on three key environmental needs – improved sustainability, minimised waste and increased recyclability.
Matthew Neilson, head of environmental solutions at Royal Mail, said: “There has been tremendous interest in Sustainable Mail and we are delighted that so many brands have signed up to the service. The organisations involved have met our strict criteria, and we are sure they will be joined by many others willing to take advantage of this product and work with us to reduce waste and improving production.
“Adopting the specification will also increase the likelihood of the mailing being recycled with consumers claiming it would help them to recycle over 80% of their existing direct mail**. This means that the more customers embrace Sustainable Mail, the more likely the industry will achieve its 55% recycling target by the end of the year.”
Sustainable Mail is consistent with the BSI standard for Environmental Performance for Direct Marketing. The standard, PAS 2020, was launched in January with the backing of Royal Mail, as well as others including the Direct Marketing Association, Acxiom and advertising organisation ISBA.
To qualify for the Sustainable Mail product, mailers must meet the criteria for two specifications – entry level, where prices of up to 2% below normal Mailsort tariffs are available, or intermediate level where this increases to 4.7%.
The criteria to qualify for Sustainable Mail at the entry level include:
• The use of recycled fibre from recovered waste paper and/or virgin fibre sourced from a Defra-approved forest certification scheme in all paper products
• The adoption of good data practices such as the development and maintenance of an internal suppression file as well as the checking of customer and prospects against the Mailing Preference Service
• The recyclability of all paper elements of the mailing, including window and padded envelopes
• A statement or logo, such as Recycle Now, on the outside of the mailing to encourage recycling of the item
Included in the intermediate level specification are requirements that:
• All printers, mailing houses or in-house mailing facilities used to produce a mailing must have an environmental management system conforming to BS EN ISO 14001
• No ultraviolet varnish finishes or rubber-based adhesives are used in the mailing
• Each item must give clear information as to how the addressee can register to unsubscribe from receiving information about any or all of a sending company’s products for one year
