True, more marketers are looking for the green — working hard to make their product or their message more environmentally sensitive. In recent years, “green marketing” has exploded in popularity among companies big and small. More and more, direct marketers are upping the recycled content of their paper, cleansing their databases faster than ever before and encouraging more consumers to toss unwanted fliers, envelopes and catalogs into recycling bins.

“It’s very clear that all of our members and board members see how important this issue is,” says Pat Kachura, senior vice president of social responsibility for the Direct Marketing Association. Last year, Deliver began addressing the environmental impact of direct marketing in our first “green” issue. Now, as we return to the subject in our second eco-themed issue, we are finding still more examples of marketers making full-on commitments to green marketing. And they are having an effect. How? Well, consider the impact of a few of the recent achievements cited below:

• 3 percent savings on paper quantity, the result of reductions in mailer sizes, spared nonprofit group Consumers Union more than $250,000 over three years.

• 375 million paper pages were saved in 2007 when MetLife began mailing directories and periodicals on CDs instead of paper.

• 930 million pieces of unwanted mail were eliminated last year by the 1,500 marketers using the DMA’s Mail Preference Service.