Postal Service Outperforms Green Goals

Greenfield, WI — Continuing its green innovation and leadership strategy, the U.S. Postal Service recently released its fiscal year (FY) 2010 Annual Sustainability Report, which demonstrated the agency had exceeded a number of its sustainability goals — including nearly a 30-percent reduction in facility energy use, a 33-percent reduction of supplies purchases and a 133-percent increase in alternative fuel use.

“Delivering the mail to every person and business in America is a big job with enormous responsibilities to our customers and the environment,” said Greenfield Manager Joers. “That’s why ‘leaner, greener, faster, smarter’ is our sustainability call to action as we eliminate waste, reduce fuel and energy use and lower our carbon footprint, driving costs down in a sustainable, responsible way.”

Greenfield Manager Julie Joers credits the agency’s culture of conservation for its gains. “Postal employees care very much about the environment. With the help of 400 green teams created to identify low- and no-cost conservation projects, we reduced energy and water use in 2010, saving more than $5 million. We also reduced waste to landfills and recycled 222,000 tons of material in 2010, which avoided $9 million in landfill fees and generated $13 million in revenue”

Highlights from the report include:

• 171 billion — pieces of mail delivered to 150 million delivery points, along 230,000 routes, with 215,000 postal vehicles, of which 44,000 are alternative fuel-capable, logging 4 million miles a day.

• 27 billion — Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM stamps and shipping supplies provided to customers. USPS is the only mailing and shipping company in the world to have earned this certification for materials that meet established standards for human and environmental health and recyclability.

• 1,067,834 — metric tons of CO2 reduced from an FY 2008 baseline, an amount equal to the annual emissions of nearly 204,000 passenger vehicles.

These energy-conservation actions are part of a comprehensive strategy USPS is using to meet its goals to reduce energy use in its facilities 30 percent, increase alternative fuel use 10 percent and reduce vehicle petroleum use 20 percent by 2015, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020.

The Postal Service also helps customers practice sustainability. In FY 2010, lobby recycling programs in more than 10,000 Post Offices helped customers divert 22,000 tons of discarded mail from landfills. USPS also helped customers recycle more than 1 million small electronics and printer cartridges.

The FY 2010 Annual Sustainability Report is available in multiple electronic formats, including online at http://www.usps.com/green/report/2010/welcome.htm and in several digital eBook formats used by reading devices and smart phones. For additional information, visit http://www.usps.com/green/report/2010/downloads.htm, usps.com/green and the green newsroom.

USPS has won more than 75 environmental awards, including 40 White House Closing the Circle, 10 Environmental Protection Agency WasteWise Partner of the Year, Climate Action Champion, Direct Marketing Association Green Echo awards, Postal Technology International Environmental Achievement of the Year and Climate Registry Gold Status Recognition.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.