SANTA ANA, Jan. 9, 2006 - As Orange County residents clean up from the holidays, Waste Management of Orange County advises customers to be proactive about recycling holiday shopping catalogs and taking care when disposing of items that contain personal information.

In Orange County, most junk mail, including solicitations and catalogs, can be recycled in residents’ mixed recyclables bins. “It’s always important to remember to be careful when disposing of sensitive information,” said David Ross, Senior District Manager for Waste Management of Orange County. “So as you are cleaning out receipts from holiday shopping, billing statements or credit card offers you may receive as a result of your holiday purchases, be sure to shred or tear them up before placing them in your recycling bin.”

Waste Management urges customers to tear or shred:

• Charge receipts
• Copies of credit applications
• Insurance forms
• Physician statements
• Checks and bank statements
• Expired charge cards that you're discarding
• Credit offers you receive in the mail

Any items that contain account numbers or Social Security numbers should be destroyed before disposal. In order to reduce your risk for identity theft – and also cut down on unwanted mail or solicitations – you can also opt out of receiving credit offers. Contact the three major credit bureaus at 1-888-5-OPTOUT (567-8688) for more information. When you call, you will need to provide your home telephone number, name and Social Security number. The information you provide is confidential and will be used only to process your request to opt out of receiving pre-screened offers of credit.

After the holidays, many residents also find themselves on the receiving end of more catalogs or mailings. “People who shopped at different retailers during the holidays or signed up for catalogs at the cash register may find extra mail filling their boxes in the New Year,” said Ross. “We encourage people to do their browsing or shopping online, and to reduce the numbers of paper catalogs they receive by opting out of mailing lists.”

According to the Direct Marketing Association, approximately 18 billion catalogs are mailed per year in the United States, which equals about 64 catalogs per person per year. A study by Resource Information Systems Inc. estimates this number of catalogs consumes more than 3 million tons of paper. Other calculations by the U.S. Forest Service and conservation groups indicate 100 million trees' worth of bulk mail is sent each year to American mailboxes, with the peak in mailings during the holiday season – this is the equivalent of deforesting all of Rocky Mountain National Park every four months.

You can reduce the number of unwanted mailings by:

• Declining to be added to mailing lists when you shop at a store or online. Also, when you place an order or make a donation, write or ask the company not to rent your name to other companies or organizations.
• Contacting the companies from which you receive catalogs and asking to be removed from their mailing lists.
• Sharing catalogs with roommates, family members, neighbors or friends, rather than each individual receiving a copy.
• Visiting the Direct Marketing Association’s Web site at www.dmaconsumers.org to register for the Mail Preference Service and have your name removed from general mailing lists.

Reducing and recycling catalogs and junk mail helps preserve natural resources by not only saving trees, but also by reducing the need for landfill space for these discarded items. By actively cutting down on unwanted mailings and recycling those you do receive, you can also help the cities in Orange County meet the 2006 recycling goals, which is important for the sustainability and environmental future of the community.

Waste Management, Inc. is the leading provider of comprehensive waste and environmental services in North America. For more information about recycling, log onto www.wm.com.

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