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Responsible Mail™ is a Royal Mail Wholesale (RMW) service that provides customers with the opportunity to benefit from lower prices by posting environmentally friendly direct mail. The service is an ‘add-on’ option for existing RMW Letter and Large Letter services and is for direct mail only, that is "addressed mail items comprising a largely uniform message with the purpose of promoting the sale or use of products or services or to encourage contribution to or support of a cause". There are two levels of Responsible Mail™, Entry and Intermediate.

Customers have the opportunity to benefit from lower prices and increase return on investment whilst demonstrating their environmental credentials to their own customers and contributing to their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scores.

Customers improve the targeting of their mailings by effective use of data management. This ensures that mail is sent to up to date and relevant address lists to avoid wasted mail in the instance of, for example, goneaways and deceased records and ensuring mail only goes to those more likely to respond, again minimising waste. Customers use materials that have been produced using processes and resources that are less harmful to the environment and are recyclable.

In developing Responsible Mail™, we have consulted a cross-section of our customers, trade associations, Government and other environmental experts and organisations to establish a specification that offers a practical and cost beneficial way for customers to reduce their direct mail's impact on the environment. Our Responsible Mail™ specification has been aligned to British Standards Institute's specification document on environmental performance of Direct Marketing, PAS 2020 (January 2009) and gives you guidance on how to prepare your mail to have least environmental impact. There are two levels in our specification: entry level and intermediate level. Both will evolve over time to reflect changing capabilities of local authorities to recycle material, as well as technological developments in the industry. Changes to the service specification will be linked to changes to the PAS 2020 specification, which is to be reviewed periodically. We have also aimed to align our specification to recognised schemes such as WRAP (Waste & Resource Action Programme) and CPET (Central Point of Expertise on Timber Procurement). We have recognised that many aspects of the developing environmental agenda are likely to change going forward and have made provision to incorporate any such changes in accordance with paragraph 8.1 of our Responsible Mail™ Schedule.

Royal Mail, The Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA), Acxiom and the Direct Mail Association (DMA) have been working in partnership with the British Standards Institute to develop a new environmental standard for Direct Marketing called PAS 2020.

Responsible Mail™ is Royal Mail Wholesale's first contribution to the environmental agenda. We are attempting to support the market for mail that is ‘optional’ (rather than, say, an obligatory statement or invoice) by incentivising sending customers to post direct mail that is responsibly produced and based on up to date, accurate mailing lists (accurate mailing lists are known to be less of an issue when sending, for example, statements or invoices to existing customers). We believe that direct mail in particular should aim to minimise its impact on the environment and so have made available an appropriate service option.

Experts believe that materials used in the production of brown (including manilla) paper cannot be recycled as effectively as those used for other types of paper.

Generally, packet formats are not synonymous with Direct Mail. Packets are used typically for a fulfilment application.

Surely it's less environmentally friendly than recycled paper? Experts recognise that virgin fibre paper can be an environmentally friendly option, if derived from a sustainably managed source: it contributes to a reduction in carbon in the atmosphere while growing and can be readily replenished. It is also the case that there are limited amounts of recycled paper; virgin fibre paper is an acceptable alternative.

There is a price reduction of 0.3p per item for Responsible Mail™ Entry Level compared to normal Access Letter and Large Letter prices. For Intermediate Level, there is an additional 0.4p per item price reduction, making the total price reduction 0.7p per item compared to normal Access Letter and Large Letter prices. However, above 250g the price reduction is on the basis of a percentage which means the price incentive rises progressively for items weighing more than 250g.

Prior to their first posting, customers are required to certify in writing that any item posted as Responsible Mail™ will conform to the specification for the Responsible Mail™ service. Also, Royal Mail may undertake a compliance audit and/or ask the posting customer to provide sample/test items of mail.

A Certificate of conformance for the chain of custody from your supply chain (e.g. paper wholesaler or paper mill).

An up-to-date certificate of conformance from the British Standards Institute's qualification procedure.

No - FSC accreditation and the BS EN 14001 Environmental Management System are not the same thing. The FSC chain of custody for an organisation requires it to trace the entire supply chain right back to the raw material. It is up to the business to ensure that all of its suppliers in the chain also meet FSC standards. This is a specific accreditation relating to wood/paper procurement and forestry management.

The BS EN ISO 14001 Environmental Management System relates to the internal processes and systems within an organisation and the impacts they have on the environment. It examines a number of different aspects and the consequential environmental impacts, and develops a system of continual environmental improvement.

FSC is one of five certification schemes approved by CPET. These are:

• Canadian Standards Association (CSA)
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC)
• Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)

Accreditation from any one of these schemes will therefore satisfy the CPET requirement for Responsible Mail™ Entry Level.

Currently the Responsible Mail™ specification excludes the use of all forms of polywrap. However, the environmental landscape is evolving, and plans will change to reflect this, although it is important to bear in mind that the overall emphasis is on recycability, not bio-degradability.

WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme) is a private not-for-profit company established in 2000. WRAP is backed by government funding from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Its purpose is to help individuals, businesses and local authorities to reduce waste and recycle more, making better use of resources and helping to tackle climate change. Full details can be found at www.wrap.org.uk.

"Recycle Now" is a national communications campaign for England to encourage people to recycle things. Scotland and Wales have their own initiatives - "Waste Aware Scotland" and "Recycle for Wales". Example logos - which are shown here for illustrative purposes only and are not for use on your mailpieces - please see link below for sourcing logo details and artwork for use on your mailpiece.

www.recyclenowpartners.org.uk

Examples could be: "Read me, recycle me" or "Recycle when finished".

Lamination can render a product unrecyclable and non biodegradable and the lamination process emits high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs); UV varnishes are mineral-oil based, which contain solvents. Their application is via a process that uses a large amount of energy and they cause problems for the recycling process.

Ink coverage is expressed as an average percentage of the sum of the percentage coverage of each individual ink used. For example: Cyan 20% + magenta 30% + yellow 60% + black 10% = 120/4 = 30% This example of determining ink coverage is based upon a four-colour set of inks. Similar calculations apply for the various alternative dot patterns that are used. Several software tools exist for measuring total ink coverage, including system specific tools, stand alone applications and plug-ins. Some examples are:

• APFill (stand alone)
• PressPercent Pro (stand alone)
• Phantasm (Illustrator add on)
• Inkcoverage (shareware plug-in for Photoshop); Under colour removal (UCR) techniques should be employed where possible to assist in reducing ink coverage.