Sustainable Development

The DMA has led the way in putting into place the apparatus required to ensure the sustainable development of the direct marketing industry.

In 2003, the DMA signed a Direct Mail and Promotions Producer Responsibility Scheme with Defra, with much of the document's focus centring on waste reduction from direct mailing campaigns. The agreement requires the direct marketing industry to hit a staggered series of targets over ten years for reducing the volume of direct mail outs being disposed of in landfill sites. These targets were set at 30 per cent by 2005, 55 per cent by 2009 and 75 per cent by 2013.

As the UK faces the reality of diminishing landfill capacity, the Government is focusing its Waste Strategy on reducing, re-using and recycling biodegradable waste. Hitting the targets will therefore be vital for the direct marketing industry to prove to government it is taking effective action to minimise the waste it produces and so avoid the imposition of austere environmental legislation.

To ensure that the direct marketing industry takes responsibility for its sustainable development, the DMA is working to give the industry's professionals the knowledge, insight and tools they need to minimise the impact of their commercial activities on the environment.