Contrary to the opinion of Nevada Senator Harry Reid, not everyone view junk mail as an indispensable conduit between elderly Americans and the outside world. In fact, most of us would rather do without it. That’s why officials in Austin took time off from rehearsing with their ska/bluegrass fusion trios to become the latest city to give residents a way to opt out of receiving unwanted mail.

Yesterday, Austin Resource Recovery announced a partnership with Catalog Choice, a free service that puts your name on do-not-deliver lists for junk mail and phone books.

First, you register at austin.catalogchoice.org after which you enter the info for the businesses that have been clogging up your mailbox.

Within 90 days of putting a company on that list, you should stop receiving unwanted mail from it.

This effort isn’t just about making life less annoying for you; it’s also a way for the city to cut back on all the junk mail it recycles.

“The first step to recycling is to reduce what we have,” said Bob Gerdert, Austin Resource Recovery director. “It will also reduce the cost the city pays to recycle this waste.”

Gerdert tells KXAN-TV that the money saved by this initiative could someday result in cost savings to Austin residents: “When it comes time to look at possible increases for solid waste services we may not have to increase it for residents because we have this cost savings.”

Austin is the latest town to partner with Catalog Choice, a company we first wrote about back in 2007. Among the other communities using the program are San Jose, CA.; Cambridge, MA.; Santa Fe, NM; Chicago; Seattle; and Berkeley.

Austin offers ‘junk mail’ opt out: kxan.com

Austin offers ‘junk mail’ opt out [KXAN]

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