In November 2016, we launched a study to determine the effectiveness of the “No Flyers Please” stickers that are given to our members and sold to the public.

The purpose of our research was to determine the following:

How much weight in “junk” mail the average household in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) receives in a year

If use of the No Flyers Sticker is an effective method to deter the amount of “junk” mail received

How many trees are used to provide the amount of flyers that households are receiving on average, if new paper had to be used

Other environmental aspects that are being effected by the distribution of unwanted “junk” mail

We asked ten different households to collect any type of “ad mail” received during a two-month period. Half the homes in the study used a “No Flyers Please” sticker, the other half did not.

At the end of the study, all ad mail received was collected and taken to the EAC. Some interesting trends emerged. The homes that did not have the stickers were getting an alarming amount of “ad mail” delivered to them.

In 2011 Stats Canada showed that there were 76,155 detached homes and 10,025 semidetached homes. Our report concluded that each of these homes are receiving on average 26 pounds of “ad mail” annually. That adds up to 2,240,680 pounds in a year throughout the HRM. This is the equivalent of cutting down two Point Pleasant parks per year.

To date, the Ecology Action Centre has distributed roughly 7500 “No Flyers Please” stickers which have saved nearly 20,000 trees.

Read our full report here.

No Flyers Please Stickers:

Our No Flyers Please stickers are free to Ecology Action Centre members, and $1 each to non-members. They are available at our office, 2705 Fern Lane, or if you would like us to mail one to you, please let us know at 902-429-2202.

How to cancel other unwanted deliveries (updated January 2016):

To cancel flyer delivery, place a note inside or on your mail box stating that you do not wish to receive unaddressed admail. The "no flyers" stickers are fine for the community mailboxes. You can also just make your own note saying “no flyers, please” if that’s more convenient. When someone puts a note on or in their mailbox, Canada Post will leave a notice to confirm that the person does not want to receive flyers and there won't be any repercussions for defacing property.



If you continue to receive unaddressed advertising after you have placed the note on your mailbox, fill out the form at the bottom of this Canada Post page to create a service ticket: https://www.canadapost.ca/web/en/kb/details.page?article=how_to_stop_rec... and Canada Post will investigate the issue.

Cancelling the Chronicle Herald flyers (pink bag): Call 902-426-3031

Cancelling the Yellow Pages delivery: Visit www.ypg.com/delivery

Digital Flyers

If you'd like to access the savings from flyers without all the paper waste, consider subscribing to digital flyers!

"reebee" is one example of a retail technology platform that enables Canadians to browse digital flyers, save items to personalized shopping lists, and search by product. reebee is accessible on iOS, Android, Blackberry, and online, and it's free to download the app. Learn more on their website here.