Rain or Shine: USPS Thinking Big, Thinking Green
If you take some time to think about it, a copious amount of products travel through the mail every day. The most prevalent resource is paper. A lot of cardboard boxes move through the system, as well as Styrofoam packing peanuts, plastic, magazines and catalogs. The list is endless.
With these infinite materials comes the potential for infinite waste, not only from the United States Postal Service (USPS) as a service provider, but from consumers receiving these resources. To work past this, USPS reduced its impact on consumption through initiatives focusing on recycling and product stewardship. And now they want you to know, they are “greener than you think.”
To spearhead these programs, Sam Pulcrano, corporate vice president of sustainability, joined the team. “We’ve been doing green things for a number of years and won a number of awards,” said Pulcrano. “We needed to bring it into a singular focus and pull it all together into a corporate plan. That’s my key job, to pull this together.”
Product Stewardship
High on their list of consumable materials, Priority Mail and Express Mail packages and envelopes are now certified Cradle to Cradle℠ (C2C) at the Silver Level. The USPS is the only mailing or shipping company in the nation to achieve this certification, which took over two years to obtain. Regarding the time and effort needed, Pulcrano noted, “as you go to each supplier, you have to go through the whole supply chain.” This certification required working with:
- 10 vendors
- 200 suppliers
- Over 1,400 individual substances
All materials were examined using 39 criteria, including toxicity, water stewardship, recyclability and other manufacturing attributes.
Recycling
Because of this C2C certification, all Priority Mail and Express Mail packages are recyclable. Beyond these staples, other C2C materials were added to USPS’ arsenal of resources, such as decals, labels, packing tape, examining inks, tapes and adhesives. The USPS worked to keep the changes to their products “cost-neutral,” meaning there is no added cost to the consumer for these upgraded products.
In terms of physical recycling, the USPS is doing it big: every year, it recycles about one million tons of wastepaper, cardboard, plastics, cans and other items. It also purchases items made from recycled materials, such as stamped envelopes, post cards, packaging materials and mail containers.
Outreach
Beyond its own initiatives, the USPS is reaching out to promote recycling in other industries.
A new mail-back pilot program will be launched this spring to provide postage-paid envelopes to recycle small electronics, including PDAs, cell phones and inkjet cartridges. Already, 1,500 test offices are running the plan, with an expansion of up to 10,000 sites planned for October. The USPS provides a small, pre-paid envelope for the item, which is then sent to a partner organization that strips and sells reusable parts of the items and recycles the remaining materials.
Additionally, the USPS is on the cusp of rolling out its new Box Lobby Recycling Program, which will target 863 of its largest post offices. At the end of September, 300 facilities will have these bins. Carrying the theme, “read, respond and recycle your mail” the program will provide recycling bins in post office box lobbies. Once your mail is withdrawn and sorted, any mail that is not needed can be discarded in a locked recycling bin.
According to Pulcrano, another innovative program is a pharmaceutical take-back program currently being piloted in Maine. Similar to the electronics mail-back program, envelopes are provided to safely return unused product to pharmaceutical partners.
Also, USPS partnered with OSRAM SYLVANIA Veolia Environmental Services to explore a program to assist consumers in properly recycling compact fluorescent lamps.
While there is potential in these future programs, the USPS’ current programs provide an effective service to recycling efforts around the country. To recycle mail and other materials in your area use USPS and Earth911.
