The organisation, the joint industry currency for ad mail, said recycling rates have been growing steadily over the five quarters that they have been tracked by JICMail.

Elsewhere, JICMail revealed that volumes tracked on its panel of 1,100 UK households increased by 5% year-on-year in Q3 2024, with increased numbers of advertisers displaying confidence in direct mail and door drops.

Cross-sector growth was seen in the period, with direct mail volumes up year-on-year across the medical, travel, supermarket and retail sectors, and door drop volumes growing across all sectors apart from charities and automotive, contributing to a 20% growth in door drop volumes overall.

To date 7,137 advertisers have used direct mail or door drops between Q1 and Q3 2024 according to the latest circulation figures published by Nielsen Ad Intel. This equates to 16% of all UK advertisers.

The average piece of business mail was interacted with 4.9 times over a 28-day period – up 3.1%, direct mail 4.4 times, partially addressed mail 3.9 times, and door drops 3.1 times.

The average lifespan in the home was 8.7 days for business mail – up 9.2%, 7.4 days for direct mail, 7.3 days for PAM, and 5.9 days for door drops.

The average piece of direct mail was looked at for 134 seconds across 28 days, door drops 56 seconds, business mail 175 seconds, and partially addressed mail for 88 seconds.

6% of mail prompted a purchase in Q3 2024, with nearly half of those purchases transacted online. 15% of mail prompted a discussion and 9% prompted a website visit.

Ian Gibbs, JICMail director of data leadership and learning, said: “With the impending launch of the cross-industry Print Green initiative, it feels very timely to highlight an important facet of the mail channel’s sustainability.

“The fact that so many households – a growing number at that – are willing to recycle their discarded mail should provide pause for thought amongst those advertisers who are looking to do everything they can to improve the sustainability credentials of their marketing budget.”

JICMail data is gathered from a panel of 1,000 households every month. The mail activity of every household member is tracked using a diary-based app. Every mail item they receive over the course of a week is captured and everything they do with that mail item over the course of a month is recorded.