A few days ago we received a rubbish problem in the mail: A flyer from our power provider Meridian wrapped in clear plastic. Amazingly it was the first piece of (solicited) plastic-ensconced mail we have received since starting eight months ago.
I know some people get inundated
with plastic-covered mail, one person I spoke to said it was one of her biggest sources of rubbish. But we have worked hard on cutting it down, we have a "no junk mail" sign and are not on any mailing lists. So I decided to write them a letter challenging them about it.
It's actually only the third ever letter I have written along these lines as I hate the confrontation.
I highlighted that they had unnecessarily created thousands of pieces of plastic that will be in our ecosystem for hundreds of years and (politely) asked if they could reconsider their future use of plastic in mailouts.
The day after I snail-mailed them we received an email from Nadine at the customer services team. Here's an excerpt from her letter: Thank you for contacting Meridian Energy.
Regarding the plastic envelope that your latest correspondence was enclosed in, I can advise you that it is made from corn starch and is entirely compostable. We also only use plant dyes in our printing so you can also compost any printed material without putting unwanted chemicals into the environment.
We are also at this time working towards reducing the amount of correspondence we mail out to customers, you can register to receive your bills online at www.mymeridian.co.nz and also opt to receive all correspondence from us via email.
Well! Talk about being outdone. I am so humbled and pleased that we chose them.
I know that the economic system we live in makes it extremely difficult for companies to be truly environmentally friendly and that there are plenty of companies quick to cash in on the green dollar without looking at their production impact holistically.
But it looks like Meridian's green actions are driven from somewhere deep within its core philosophy.
