A Royal Mail rubber band is a small red elastic loop used by the postal delivery service in the United Kingdom. In the course of its work, the Royal Mail consumes nearly one billion rubber bands per year to tie together bundles of letters at sorting offices. [1] In the 2000s, complaints about Royal Mail rubber bands littering the streets of Britain gave rise to ongoing press interest in this minor cultural phenomenon.
In a response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by Steve Woods to the Royal Mail in December 2008, the company disclosed that it used the following numbers of rubber bands in each of the three years from 2005/6 to 2007/8: [1]
According to the Daily Record , costs for rubber bands in the 2007–08 period were £982,677. [3] Figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph showed that between 2007 and 2011, spending on rubber bands increased by 40%. [4] In 2009–2010, the numbers used equated to one rubber band being used for every 28 letters that the Royal Mail delivered. [2]
Complaint and comment on the theme of discarded rubber bands is a recurring focus of media interest. A Times story in 2006—"Posties' red rubber bands stretch public's patience"—is fairly typical. It notes a campaign by the London Borough of Lewisham's mayor, who complains that an estimated 5,000 bands are dropped in his borough each month; it details the response to a November 2005 BBC Radio Essex programme in which listeners were asked to send in found rubber bands - allegedly 10,000 were received; and it makes a range of more or less whimsical suggestions for the re-use of such bands—as rubber balls, "chopsticks for butterfingers", and rubber band tanks. [5] Lewisham's campaign [6] was picked up by a number of other news outlets, such as the BBC. [7] The story resurfaces from time to time, independently of specific campaigns. [8]
At least one report of injury to wildlife has been presumed because of Royal Mail rubber bands, in the case of a duck observed with a rubber band wrapped around its head. [9] Cases of hedgehogs dying from their contact with rubber bands have been reported, with fatalities being caused by the objects sticking to the animal and the creature's flesh becoming enmeshed with it over time. [10]
In April 2009, the Keep Britain Tidy campaign has involved itself in the issue as part of its Big Tidy Up campaign, and returned some 13,000 bands that had been collected by the public to the Royal Mail. [11] [12] [13] The campaign, together with a similar initiative by the Keep Scotland Beautiful organisation, [3] once again raised the profile of the issue, gaining coverage by the press. [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]
The Royal Mail emphasises that it instructs staff to re-use and not to abandon rubber bands, and that in mid-2004 it changed the colour of bands used from brown to red so that they are easier to spot and retrieve. [5] In 2009 Royal Mail stated that neither the company, nor to its knowledge any staff, had ever been fined for rubber band littering; and that the red rubber bands they were then using were designed to be more biodegradable than previously used brown bands, so as to lessen the environmental impact. Finally, the company stated that it was seeking to redesign certain processes to diminish the use of bands. [1]
In July 2021, news outlets reported an update from one of Royal Mail's Twitter accounts telling customers they could return rubber bands by putting them in postboxes, although the tweet has since been deleted. [19]
The UK press exhibits a fascination with the whimsical side of the issue: what to do with discarded bands. The Guardian newspaper went as far as to dedicate an editorial column to the subject. [20] More frequently the media solicits and presents lists of suggestions, [21] with BBC Radio 4's PM programme including suggestions of guitar strings, chopping board stabilisers and handlebar fasteners. [22]
Less frequently, papers discuss whether postmen or the Royal Mail should be fined for littering; the Keep Britain Tidy campaign group has suggested that environmental protection laws should be used to levy on-the-spot fines of £80 for dropping litter, with the penalty rising to £2,500 if the case goes to court. [14] [23] [24]
Postal codes used in the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were adopted nationally between 11 October 1959 and 1974, having been devised by the General Post Office. A full postcode is known as a "postcode unit" and designates an area with several addresses or a single major delivery point.
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news website published in London. Founded in 1896, it is currently the highest paid circulation newspaper in the UK. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982, while Scottish and Irish editions of the daily paper were launched in 1947 and 2006 respectively. Content from the paper appears on the MailOnline website, although the website is managed separately and has its own editor.
Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company, originally established in 1516 as a government department. It is owned by International Distributions Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels). The group used the name Consignia for a brief period in the early 2000s.
The Daily Express is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson. Its sister paper, the Sunday Express, was launched in 1918. In June 2022, it had an average daily circulation of 201,608.
The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Games as organised by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).
A rubber band is a loop of rubber, usually ring or oval shaped, and commonly used to hold multiple objects together. The rubber band was patented in England on March 17, 1845, by Stephen Perry. Most rubber bands are manufactured out of natural rubber as well as for latex free rubber bands or, especially at larger sizes, an elastomer, and are sold in a variety of sizes.
RHS Britain in Bloom is the largest horticultural campaign in the United Kingdom. It was first held in 1963, initiated by the British Tourist Board based on the example set by Fleurissement de France, which since 1959 has promoted the annual Concours des villes et villages fleuris. It has been organised by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) since 2002.
The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in need.
Litter consists of waste products that have been discarded incorrectly, without consent, at an unsuitable location. The word litter can also be used as a verb: to litter means to drop and leave objects, often man-made, such as aluminum cans, paper cups, food wrappers, cardboard boxes or plastic bottles on the ground, and leave them there indefinitely or for other people to dispose of as opposed to disposing of them correctly.
Keep America Beautiful is a nonprofit organization founded in 1953. It is the largest community improvement organization in the United States, with more than 700 state and community-based affiliate organizations and more than 1,000 partner organizations.
Keep Britain Tidy is a UK-based independent environmental charity. The organisation campaigns to reduce litter, improve local places and prevent waste. It has offices in Wigan and London.
American restaurant chain McDonald's has been criticised for numerous aspects of its business, including the health effects of its products, its treatment of employees, the environmental impact of its operations, and other business practices.
Paul Michael Dacre is an English journalist and the former long-serving editor of the British tabloid the Daily Mail. He is also editor-in-chief of DMG Media, which publishes the Daily Mail, The Mail on Sunday, the free daily tabloid Metro, the MailOnline website, and other titles.
The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009.
Walkers Snack Foods Limited, trading as Walkers, is a British snack food manufacturer mainly operating in the UK and Ireland. The company is best known for manufacturing potato crisps and other (non-potato-based) snack foods. In 2013, it held 56% of the British crisp market. Walkers was founded in 1948 in Leicester, England, by Henry Walker. The Walkers family sold the business in 1970 to American food producer, Standard Brands. In 1989, Walkers was acquired by Lay's owner, Frito-Lay, a division of PepsiCo.
In the United Kingdom there is a maximum fine of £2,500 for persistent littering. Different local authorities also have the powers to impose on-the-spot fines to those caught littering. These are generally under £100.
Keep Calm and Carry On was a motivational poster produced by the Government of the United Kingdom in 1939 in preparation for World War II. The poster was intended to raise the morale of the British public, threatened with widely predicted mass air attacks on major cities. Although 2.45 million copies were printed, and the Blitz did in fact take place, the poster was only rarely publicly displayed and was little known until a copy was rediscovered in 2000 at Barter Books, a bookshop in Alnwick. It has since been re-issued by a number of private companies, and has been used as the decorative theme for a range of products.
The Bristol Royal Mail Choir is an amateur choral ensemble made up of employees of Royal Mail. The choir was founded in April 2012 by choirmaster Gareth Malone as part of the BBC Two television series The Choir: Sing While You Work. At the time of founding, the choir was made up of employees drawn from Bristol and its surrounding area of South West England. The choir is conducted by David Ogden.
Marie-Louise Irvine is a Scottish general practitioner, health campaigner, and parliamentary candidate. She unsuccessfully stood for election in the 2015 General election and the 2017 General election for the National Health Action Party in the constituency of South West Surrey. She came second to Jeremy Hunt in the 2017 election; reducing his majority.
GRM Daily, formerly Grime Daily, is a British urban music outlet and entertainment platform. As the name suggests, the platform is an outlet for UK rap and its various genres, such as UK drill, afroswing, trap, and British hip hop. The platform also serves electronic genres such as UK garage and grime.