A small revolution in mailboxes. Since February 1, 2023, the approximately 7,600 residents of the Vallée de l'Ubaye Serre-Ponçon community of communes no longer receive unaddressed advertisements, unless they have affixed a “Yes pub” sticker on the box.
The intercommunality of the north of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence was in fact selected by the State for an experiment of this system over three years, alongside thirteen other representative communities, including, in particular, the City of Bordeaux or again the Grenoble Metropolis. “We have all noticed that we receive a lot of advertisements in our mailboxes and that, very often, they end up in the trash.“, observes Yvan Bouguyon, vice president of the Ubayenne intercommunality in charge of waste from 2020 to the end of 2023, elected at the origin of the launch of the system.
The advantage of “costing nothing”
“This is even more true for the many secondary residents in the valley, who collected obsolete advertisements in their boxes“, adds the elected official, who has become a simple community councilor since the end of 2023 and the change of presidency at the head of the community. This system has the advantage of “cost nothing“, and to be very simple to set up: a decree prohibits the distribution of unwanted leaflets in the 3,965 mailboxes in the territory.
Ungentlemanly distributors may be fined up to 1,500 euros. “From time to time, it has happened that some people do not respect the rule. But La Poste, the only distributor in our territory with some exceptions, is aware and is playing the game. Especially since the non-distribution of advertisements does not translate into a drop in sales.adds Yvan Bouguyon, also mayor of Barcelonnette. The only problem is for the printing industry which is against this measure.“Retailers who open a new brand could also be penalized for making themselves known.
But from an ecological point of view, it seems to have largely proven itself. The elected official estimates that in a few months, “the number of advertisements distributed in the territory has approximately been divided by five“. Fewer kilos of waste to manage for the community of municipalities…
