France trials complete ban on junk mail
All over France people optimistically put 'pas de pub' (no advertising) stickers on their mailboxes, only to find them filled to overflowing with unsolicited mail. But now a new scheme, being trialled in 14 areas of France, aims to make it illegal to deliver unwanted post.
The trial scheme, which comes into effect on Thursday, September 1st, replaces attempts to opt out with an opt-in - an official sticker saying OuiPub (yes to adverts) that people can put on their mailbox.
The new law makes it illegal to deliver any unaddressed mail to any mailbox that does not display the OuiPub sticker - it applies to official agents like La Poste delivery workers, but also unofficial distributors or people doing mailshots for their business.
The OuiPub sticker declaring 'printed advertising material accepted'. Image: gouv.fr
It is being tested in 14 areas - Bordeaux, Grenoble, Sartrouville, Ardèche-Drome, Basse Ardèche, La Vallée de l'Ubaye Serre-Ponçon, Agen, Haute-Gironde, Nancy, Troyes, Champagne, Dunkirk and the island of Corsica - plus areas where the waste collection union UNIVALOM is active.
In total the trial will affect around 2.5 million people.
People living in the areas concerned should have already received a sticker to add to their mailbox if they wish.
The trial will run for 31 months and then will be evaluated and, if successful, extended to the whole country.
The idea came from the Citizens' Climate Convention, a group of ordinary citizens who gathered in 2020 and 2021 to come up with a series of far-reaching proposals to tackle climate change in France, including cutting down on waste.
Their initial idea was for a straight ban on junk mail in order to cut down on waste paper - printed advertising produces around 900,000 tonnes of paper a year - but the eventual trail law includes the OuiPub opt-in for people who do want to receive mailshots.
As well as cutting waste paper, the scheme could also save local authorities money on their waste collection services.
More detail here.
France already has wide-ranging anti-waste laws in place that ban single-use plastics and restrict other types of waste, such as forbidding retailers to burn unsold clothes.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20210108/from-takeways-to-coffee-cups-heres-what-frances-new-anti-waste-law-bans/
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The trial scheme, which comes into effect on Thursday, September 1st, replaces attempts to opt out with an opt-in - an official sticker saying OuiPub (yes to adverts) that people can put on their mailbox.
The new law makes it illegal to deliver any unaddressed mail to any mailbox that does not display the OuiPub sticker - it applies to official agents like La Poste delivery workers, but also unofficial distributors or people doing mailshots for their business.
It is being tested in 14 areas - Bordeaux, Grenoble, Sartrouville, Ardèche-Drome, Basse Ardèche, La Vallée de l'Ubaye Serre-Ponçon, Agen, Haute-Gironde, Nancy, Troyes, Champagne, Dunkirk and the island of Corsica - plus areas where the waste collection union UNIVALOM is active.
In total the trial will affect around 2.5 million people.
People living in the areas concerned should have already received a sticker to add to their mailbox if they wish.
The trial will run for 31 months and then will be evaluated and, if successful, extended to the whole country.
The idea came from the Citizens' Climate Convention, a group of ordinary citizens who gathered in 2020 and 2021 to come up with a series of far-reaching proposals to tackle climate change in France, including cutting down on waste.
Their initial idea was for a straight ban on junk mail in order to cut down on waste paper - printed advertising produces around 900,000 tonnes of paper a year - but the eventual trail law includes the OuiPub opt-in for people who do want to receive mailshots.
As well as cutting waste paper, the scheme could also save local authorities money on their waste collection services.
More detail here.
France already has wide-ranging anti-waste laws in place that ban single-use plastics and restrict other types of waste, such as forbidding retailers to burn unsold clothes.
https://www.thelocal.fr/20210108/from-takeways-to-coffee-cups-heres-what-frances-new-anti-waste-law-bans/
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