Do your part by sending things electronically but if you must use the post you can rest assured that the United State Postal Service is on board to do their part for the environment.
According to the USPS website, this is some of what they’re doing to minimize their impact on the environment…
We find ways to cut back…
- We use water-based inks to print stamps.
- We use refined bio-based oil, alternative fuels such as compressed natural gas, hydrogen, or ethanol gas, and re-tread tires on our fleet of Postal vehicles
- We’re constantly streamlining our delivery routes to reduce driving time and fuel use.
Our alternative fuel vehicles help in more ways than one…
The Postal Service has the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the nation and over 43,000 of them are alternative-fuel capable. Our E-85 alternative-fuel project put 584 ethanol-powered vehicles on the road in Minnesota alone. Since we primarily refuel at commercial retail fueling locations, our fleet generates demand for alternative fuels nationwide.
We encourage advanced vehicle technology…
General Motors and the Postal Service worked together to test the GM HydroGen3 fuel cell minivan for deliveries in the Washington, D.C. metro area and Irvine, CA—the first commercial use of a fuel cell vehicle in the nation. Our other vehicle technology efforts include advanced diesel vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and electric CitiVans, which are recognized by the EPA as zero emission vehicles.
Other ways we reduce energe use…
- We are upgrading our buildings to reduce energy use. Our objective is to reduce our energy consumption 30% by 2015.
- We deliver the mail in the most energy-efficient way possible—a third of our deliveries are made on foot.
We recycle a lot…
Every year we recycle about one million tons of wastepaper, cardboard, plastics, cans, and other stuff. We also generate about $7.5 million in revenue from those recycling activities.
We buy used recycled materials…
We purchase more than $200 million worth of products containing recycled content each year. Many of the containers in our mail system are made from recycled materials, and so are the stamped envelopes, post cards, stamp booklet covers, and packaging materials we provide.
We provide recyclable products…
The adhesives used in our stamps are biodegradable, and our Priority Mail® and Express Mail® boxes and envelopes are Cradle to CradleSM certified. So they can go right in the recycling bin.
We reuse old materials…
Through various continued successful partnerships, we’ve facilitated reuse or recovery of overstock and outdated electronic equipment, saving tons of potential landfill waste.
