Is your recycle bin for papers and junk mail getting weightier? It seems there’s no let up in solicitations. If you’ve got a house or an apartment with an assigned mailbox, you’re getting a steady stream of coupons, catalogs and throw-away credit card offers.

Not only does this cost us trees, it messes up the house. We have a buffet devoted to the daily ritual of sorting out the bills and magazines from the unwanted catalogs, publications and come-ons. Once the piles are sorted and organized, the chaff goes to the recycle bin.

But once again, as with so many green solutions, there’s a win-win way around this logjam of printed waste. You can purge the junk mail and reclaim your buffet/hall table/desktop by signing up for the no-mail list at the Direct Marketing Association.

And guess what? You don’t even have to use any paper! Just do it online. You can put your name on the no-mail-please list, which should stem the avalanche of newsprint and brochures within 3 months.

Yes, you might miss a random coupon or sale flier. But the things you’ve signed up for, the places you do business with, should still find you.

– B. Kessler