It's hard stopping junk mail from an industry in the UK that is estimated to be worth some £17 billion per year, employing around 800,000 people and generating £63 billion worth of sales. No wonder that big companies don’t want you to stop junk mail! Stopping junk mail that weighs a staggering 63,000 tons a year is hard. A high proportion of junk is from banks and other financial institutions eager to loan more money, get you to take on yet more credit cards, and take care of what money you do manage to save. The interesting thing is, companies want to stop junk mail. If stopping junk mail is high you priorities, it's on theirs too.

In 2005, Royal Mail delivered 3,300,000,000 pieces of unaddressed junk . That’s 12.1% higher than in 2004. This year looks set to be worse yet. Until recently, the Royal Mail had a code of conduct which meant they delivered a maximum of pieces of unaddressed junk mail per week to each household. In August 2006, Royal Mail abandoned those guidelines, and will now deliver as much junk as it gets paid for – unless you demand that they stop junk mail.

Postwatch, the national watchdog for postal services, recognises the level of public concern at junk and is putting pressure on Royal Mail to make the opting out process easier, clearer, and more comprehensive.

There are two main types – junk mail that has been addressed to you (or to your house), and mail that has no address or name on it. Mail with addresses on has usually been sent to you because a company you have done business with has passed on your personal information to other companies, either for a payment or for some other reason. Often these other companies re-sell or otherwise share your personal information with still more companies! Junk mail with no addresses on is actually delivered by Royal Mail, in exchange for a payment from the companies sending it out.

What can you do about it? The first thing you can do for stopping junk mail is to “opt out" – a process that lets you tell the companies and organisations who send you junk mail that you don’t want any more. This guide tells you how to do that, as well as suggesting other things you can do to combat the rising tide and Stop Junk Mail: www.preventjunkmail.co.uk