US Postal Service Wins Top Environmental Award

The new sustainable initiatives implemented by the Postal Service have included a recycling program, green facilities and a fuel-efficient vehicle program.

The Postal Service’s mail recycling program has been introduced in 16,000 post offices and is credited with diverting an estimated 24,000 tons of recyclable paper from landfills. It is hard to estimate what percentage this is as there is no comprehensive list of operational post offices for the entire country.

Another initiative saw the transition to fuel-efficient vehicles. The agency announced recently that it will replace 6,500 vehicles with 1,000 E-85 ethanol-capable and 900 gasoline/electric hybrid vehicles for its delivery fleet. The Postal Service has also announced their goal to reduce their petroleum use by 20 percent by 2015.

Energy consumption in an organization this large is naturally through the roof and that is why they have also committed to reducing energy use by 30 percent in the next six years. In addition to this they have already reduced their overall building related energy consumption by 17 percent since 2003. The agency is now exploring, or in some areas, installing several renewable energy systems, including solar energy and geothermal HVAC.

In terms of converting their actual buildings to green facilities, the Postal Service has integrated environmental business practices into their day-to-day operations. In New York the agency has opened its first and the city’s largest green roof atop a large mail processing facility. The roof is estimated to save the facility $30,000 annually on heating and cooling costs. Even more notably, the structure is estimated to reduce the amount of polluted storm water runoff into New York’s municipal water system by as much as 75 percent in summer and 40 percent in the winter months.

The Postal Service of any country is a far reaching and highly influential organization. It is great to see some of the heavy hitters taking responsibility for their operations and working towards a sustainable future. I think it is finally time to encourage the masses to Go Postal!

Jennifer Maclellan is the Senior Writer for the Green Guide Network. You can contact her at jennifer@greenguidenetwork.com.

http://www.greenguidenetwork.com

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