Closed petition Give consumers a statutory right to opt out of receiving paper correspondence

Closed on 6 September 2020

Too many businesses routinely send paper-based correspondence to their customers, which unnecessarily harms the environment, instead of using e-mail. Please give consumers the right to opt to receive all correspondence electronically from each business with whom they have a contractual relationship.

Paper correspondence is not only harmful to the environment, but it is also onerous for consumers, because it needs to be either stored or shredded. There is no good reason why, for example, banks and credit card issuers notify their customers of changes to terms and conditions by paper, while supplying statements electronically. Only physical goods or physical objects, e.g. credit or debit cards, should be sent by post. The same principle applies to other sectors that similarly waste paper.