Junk mail

The Mail Preference Service

You can reduce the amount of unwanted junk mail you recieve by using the mail preference service to remove you name and address from their direct mailing lists.

It is free to register.

Contact

Mailing Preference Service (MPS)
DMA House, 70 Margaret Street, London, W1W 8SS

Tel: 020 7291 3310
Fax: 020 7323 4226
or visit www.mpsonline.org.uk

What does it stop?

Registering will stop most unwanted consumer advertising material (junk mail) addressed to individuals personally and delivered to their home address by post.

You'll still get advertising from companies you've agreed to receive items from before - or from charities which you've donated to in the past. If you want to stop this too, you'll need to contact the organisations direct. 

MPS cannot stop unaddressed leaflets, items addressed to 'the occupier', or 'the householder' or a business - nor free newspapers and inserts in magazines and bills. Some local mailings may also not be stopped.

It may not stop mail from overseas: Organisations will often base themselves overseas to avoid legal restrictions.

The Royal Mail's 'opt-out' service

If you want to stop receiving unaddressed mail delivered by the Royal Mail to your home, you can register on to the Royal Mail's opt-out service.

Contact:

Freepost RLZL-LHZH-JZHT
Royal Mail Customer Services
PO Box 740
Plymouth
PL9 7YB

or email: optout@royalmail.com

The Royal Mail will send you an opt-out form to your address, which you must sign and return to join the service.

What will it stop?

1. Unaddressed mail. It will not stop mail addressed to 'the occupier' or 'the householder', any other general name, or mail personally addressed to your name
2. It will not stop unaddressed direct mail from overseas
3. It will not stop direct mail that is hand delivered to your door by other organisations that aren't the Royal Mail.

The Royal Mail estimates that about 25% of unaddressed direct mail can be stopped with this service.

It's not possible for the Royal Mail to separate material you don't want from material that you do want, such as advertising leaflets or Government leaflets. You also need to make sure that everyone living in your household is happy to stop receiving unaddressed direct mail.

For more information on the Royal Mail's Opt Out service, visit The Royal Mail: Door to Door

Junk mail tip

Home composting is an ideal way to dispose of any letters you don't want to put in your wheelie bin for security reasons. It can also deal with small quantities of envelopes which cannot be recycled. Find out more about home composting