by johnt
25. May 2010 11:22
It is estimated that around 4.3 billion items of direct mail are sent out every year using around 550,000 tonnes of paper. In 2003 an estimated 87 per cent of the items sent out annually were ending up in landfill, which accounts for 2% of the UK’s waste mountain.
In 2003, the Direct Marketing Association and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (or Defra) agreed strict 10-year targets for reducing waste from the direct marketing sector, PAS2020. The targets were that by the end of 2005, 30 per cent of all waste direct mail was to be recycled. This was narrowly missed. This target rose to 55 per cent by the end of 2009 and rises again to 70 per cent by the end of 2013.
Additional pressure is now coming from EU, the EU Landfill Directive comes into force this year, 2010, annual cuts in the amount going to land fill have been agreed. Missing these targets could result in millions of pounds of fines by the EU.
To help companies achieve these targets and save money data8 has developed Sustainable Data. Sustainable Data takes all of the data aspects within PAS2020, and offers Direct Marketers a one-stop solution to ensure that their data and data processes are compliant. The additional benefit is that it will enable them to comply with all of the data conditions of the Royal Mail's Sustainable Mail solution enabling Direct Marketers to save up to an additional 4.7% off their postage costs.
Sustainable Data is data8's unique data cleansing tool to help companies save money on their mailings and help the environment by meeting the targeting and suppression requirements of the PAS 2020 standard. For an annual license fee companies get access to all of data8’s services to help them achieve PAS2020 compliance and maximise Royal Mail discounts.