Sustainability Annual Report Released

WASHINGTON, May 11 — The U.S. Postal Service released its 2009 annual report on sustainability performance in which Postmaster General John E. Potter credited postal employees for the agency’s environmental achievements.

“Quite simply, we want to be the best — best neighbor, best business partner and the best place to work when it comes to sustainable practices,” said Potter. “As the first federal agency to publicly report its greenhouse gas emissions, we’ve established an invaluable baseline to guide us as we work to scale back these emissions by 20 percent by 2020.”

The Postal Service has set aggressive goals to reduce energy use 30 percent by 2015, petroleum fuel use 20 percent by 2015 and greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020. In 2009, the agency reduced its total facility and vehicle energy use 9 percent, as it increased its alternative fuel use 26 percent.

In 2009, Postal Service employees reduced the amount of municipal solid waste generated by 7 percent compared to the year before. Postal employees also increased the amount of recycled or reused electronics by 73 percent in the same timeframe. The 2009 sustainability report is available at the Postal Service’s green website, usps.com/green which shows customers how to “skip the trip” by using free carrier pickup, Click-N-Ship and other online services. In 2009, online transactions increased 13 percent, meaning fewer trips to Post Offices, saving customers time and fuel and reducing their carbon emissions, too.

“It’s our goal to make sure every letter and package mailed is a greener experience for the people who use our services,” said Sam Pulcrano, vice president, Sustainability. “Reduce, reuse, recycle is more than a slogan — it’s a way of doing business throughout the Postal Service. We are reducing energy and fuel use, our carbon footprint is growing smaller, and our employees and customers are benefiting from our environment-friendly practices.”

Pulcrano attributes other sustainability successes to the Postal Service’s inclusive “culture of conservation.”

Highlights from the sustainability report include:

* 10.8 trillion — reduction in British thermal units (Btu) in facility energy use since 2005

* $400 million — savings in energy costs since 2007

* $314 million — savings due to reduced contracted transportation fuel use

* 10 million — saved sheets of paper through Human Resources online initiatives

* 2 cents — cost per mile to operate three-wheeled electric delivery vehicles

According to Pulcrano, “The Postal Service is making good progress in achieving its sustainability goals and continues to lay a solid foundation for a sustainable future for our organization, our employees and our customers. As federal agencies begin to ‘green the government’ the Postal Service continues to step up and take action."

The Postal Service 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, and the Postal Technology International Environmental Achievement of the Year, 2009.

ecoEnvelopes ( www.ecoEnvelopes.com ), the developers of innovative reusable envelopes designed to conserve natural resources and reduce costs, have received a key National Customer Ruling from the US Postal Service (USPS). It is the first time USPS has issued such a certification for a line of reusable envelopes and solidifies ecoEnvelopes’ position as a leader in a bold new effort to green the US mail.

The USPS National Customer Ruling is issued after an official testing and approval process. The ruling provides customers with increased confidence that ecoEnvelopes’ unique designs meet the most stringent qualifications for use in the US mail. In 2007, USPS worked closely with ecoEnvelopes in changing the Domestic Mail Manual (DMM), paving the way for breakthrough mail solutions of this kind.

By eliminating the need for reply envelopes, ecoEnvelopes helps businesses and organizations meet their social, environmental and marketing objectives. “Using one envelope is simply more efficient and less wasteful than two, and you send the right message with a reusable envelope,” said founder and CEO Ann DeLaVergne, a former organic farmer and beekeeper who created the first ecoEnvelopes by hand in her kitchen as a way to reduce waste. More than 80 billion reply envelopes are sent through the US mail each year.

Eliminating return envelopes saves energy, water, and forest resources and reduces the carbon emissions that contribute to climate change. Every one million ecoEnvelopes used saves an estimated 250 million BTUs of energy and 37,000 pounds of greenhouse gasses. All ecoEnvelopes are manufactured on certified papers from managed forests using up to 100% recycled content.

“Beyond the environmental benefits, the value proposition is simple,” says DeLaVergne. Bulk mailers such as utilities, credit card companies, and direct marketers can reduce manufacturing, printing, shipping and insertion costs by using one envelope instead of two. ecoEnvelopes are designed for use with existing high-speed insertion and postal processing equipment.

Customers can realize mail savings between 15% to 45% and increased response rates for direct mail of up to 8%. “It’s important for us to practice what we preach,” stated Ruth Patton, Director of Communications for Fresh Energy, a leading advocate of new, innovative energy solutions. “Using ecoEnvelopes for our mailings helps us maintain our integrity. Our members love that we’re producing less waste and using fewer resources. Response rate is at an all-time high,” she continued.

“The Postal Service understands our vision and we are grateful for their support,” said DeLaVergne. “It’s simply an idea whose time has come. With ecoEnvelopes, we are proving that being more efficient, even with something as small as an envelope, can have a measurable impact on the environment,” she concluded.