As the Post Office is a monopoly, there are not many choices to post letters. Three Bags Full (Bath) and Pedal & Post (Oxford) use bike delivery (the latter combines with trains for intercity). Read the posts on plastic-free packing tape.
It takes longer to post letters abroad, due to snow or mountains. In Chile, some letters take so long to get there due to the Andes, that people often just take the bus to deliver in person!
Don’t send plantable cards (or gift tags) to homes with pets (due to toxic wildflowers). And don’t send thick glossy leaflets (one dog almost died recently from licking the paper that contains glue, when it was posted through a letterbox).
Ask Royal Mail to Stop Using Rubber Bands
It’s not the postie’s fault, but Royal Mail is not acting fast enough (it talked about finding alternatives 10 years ago) to replace the millions of red rubber bands used yearly to keep letter piles together. Thousands are littered each day (and you can’t compost or recycle them, just bin them).
Hedgehogs and other creatures get trapped in them, and if they wash into lakes, ducks feed them to chicks, thinking they are worms. One man found one in his cat litter tray and says the Post Office (like everyone else) should be fined for littering. There are plenty of alternatives like paper belly bands, that hold letters together, then are easily composted.
Use Envelope Reuse Labels (to help small charities)
Envelope reuse labels are sold on a roll, you just stick them on old envelopes to write a new address. You can buy ones that use profits to help hedgehog rescue and humane research.
You can tear off old stamps (leave a small margin) and pop in an A5 envelope (with broken jewellery and old coins) and send off to raise cash for favourite charities. Order a free sack for large collections.
For internal mail (or people who regularly send letters to each other), Lopees (AU) are a good one-time purchase. These reusable envelopes are made from organic cotton so last for years (a great idea, why don’t we have this?)
Eco Packaging for Fragile Items
Flexi-Hex also uses a hexangonal design, made with 85% recycled cardboard and water adhesives. But this one is sold (wholesale) in all kinds of shapes to fit bottles, spectacles, you can even use it to send surfboards! The most popular bottle duo (Mini Sleeve & Pinch Top Box) is DPD-approved.
Eco Padded Envelopes for Parcels
FSC-certified mailer bags are likely the best alternative (better if they were made from recycled paper). Sold in packs of 1 to 50, the company also sells mailing paper sacks for larger items and board back envelopes.
Compostable can be home compostable (snip into strips to break down faster and avoid suffocating wildlife). But most ‘eco mailing bags’ can only be industrially composted. So unless you have an industrial composter in your garden (kerbside can’t take these as they look like plastic), you have to drive to the council’s compost heap (if it has one), so most get binned.
Most ‘compostable mailers’ are made from GM-grown corn, which does not emit toxic gases at landfill, but still is not really that eco-friendly to grow. They are better than plastic, but then most things are.
Rydal Apparel transforms inedible herb waste (rosemary) into pretty industrial packaging, along with turning old denim jeans (up to 8 billion pairs sold yearly, most go to landfill) into a white icy paper with blue tingue.
CelluLiner is an insulated paper liner to transport frozen/chilled goods that collapses to form a box shape in seconds. It contains air pockets to slow heat transfer, and can be recycled at kerbside.
You can recycle bubble wrap (LDPE) at supermarket bag recycling bins. For a big office clear-out, order a Terracycle shipping materials box (costs £100 to £400 depending on size). Towns and villages can split the cost, to get all plastic supplies out of town for good, never to return. Just order a box, fill up at a drop-off point and send back using the prepaid shipping label. Items are made into things like industrial piping and park benches.
You can use the box to recycle plastic mailers along with bubble/stretch wrap, packing foam, plastic tape dispensers, shipping peanuts and deflated air cushions. You can’t recycle padded envelopes, laminated paper or hazardous waste.
