In a bid to boost profits the Royal Mail is planning to bombard households with yet more junk mail.

Postmen can currently only deliver a maximum of three items of unaddressed mail a week to any one home.

But their bosses are trying to convince unions to scrap the limit.

The move would allow them to increase revenue - but it would also clog up letter-boxes with even more rarely read material.

Households received 3.3billion items of unsolicited mail last year - up 12.5 per cent on 2004. A quarter of that is delivered by the Royal Mail, bringing in around GBP 800million from marketing firms, charities and other senders.

The rest either comes in free newspapers or is delivered door-todoor on behalf of local businesses such as takeaway restaurants.

The prospect of more junk items being delivered by Royal Mail has raised serious concerns. The Local Government Association warns it will further damage the environment and lead to an increase in council tax.

LGA chairman Sandy BruceLockhart, said: "I am concerned that the expansion in junk mail will lead to an increase in the amount of paper that is either thrown into landfill or has to be collected in recycling bins. This comes at a time when councils are trying to minimise waste, increase recycling, and are striving to provide value for money to the taxpayer." Yet not everyone is against junk mail. A spokesman for Postcomm, the industry regulator, said: "One person's junk mail is another person's valuable piece of direct marketing. It is this material which helps keep stamp prices down." A Royal Mail spokesman said yesterday: "If Royal Mail did not deliver any of this type of mail then it would simply be delivered by other operators."

You can cut your junk mail by registering with the Mailing Preference Service at www. mpsonline.org. uk. Tel: 0845 703 4599. Or email optout@royalmail.com