USPS Receives Record Seven White House Closing the Circle Environmental Awards

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TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND POLITICAL EDITORS:

USPS Receives Record Seven White House Closing the Circle Environmental Awards

CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO, May. 28 -/E-Wire/-- The Postal Service, a national leader in protecting the environment, has been named to receive seven Closing the Circle awards for 2001 by the White House Federal Environmental Executive. That brings the total number of White House Closing the Circle awards won by the Postal Service to 37 since the awards began in 1995. These prestigious awards are given annually to federal agencies for their contributions to a clean and safe environment. The winners from 2001 include:

Sacramento, CA Postal District, Education and Outreach Category -- for "Getting the Word Out," and heightening awareness of environmental issues through its monthly environmental newsletter distributed to more than 425 post offices, stations and branches and through other environmental efforts.

Alabama Postal District. Education and Outreach Category -- for setting up and training a recycling team of five people to oversee and gain support for its recycling program. The team trained personnel at more than 642 postal facilities, visited schools, and had booths at community events to promote its "Discarded Lobby Mail" recycling program.

Suburban, MD, Mail Processing & Delivery Center. Environmental Management Systems Category--for having an environmental management system in place that ensures compliance with environmental laws and regulations according to the International Standards Organization.

Hunting Park/Germantown, PA, Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF). Model Facility Demonstration and Non-Hazardous Waste Category -- for its "Green" Model Postal VMF. The facility, which services more than 1,100 vehicles in accordance with the USPS policy for environmental protection and was planned and built as a "green" model VMF with focus in the area of pollution prevention.

Pittsburgh, PA Postal District. Waste/Pollution Prevention Category -- for its Pollution Prevention Program, which includes using reusable plastic containers in place of large corrugated containers, using water-based cleaning technology to replace the use of solvents, expanding recycling capacity, and other pollution prevention initiatives.

Central Florida Postal District Vehicle Maintenance Facility. Model Facility Demonstration and Non-Hazardous Waste Category -- for "Greening the Sunshine State." The District has taken the lead in using environmental methods in the automotive maintenance and repair field and has gone beyond the call of duty to run a facility that has 3,660 vehicles that deliver mail to 1.9 million homes with as little pollution as possible.

USPS Postal Headquarters Environmental Management Policy (EMP). Life Cycle Assessment/Environmental Cost Accounting Category -- for its Total Resource Management Project. In fiscal year 2000, the Postal Service, under EMP's leadership, generated more than $48 million in revenue and cost savings and significantly reduced environmental liability at the same time.

The winners of this year's Closing the Circle awards will receive them at a special ceremony on June 12, 2001 in Washington, DC.

The Postal Service has long been a leader in preserving the environment and is committed to being a good environmental neighbor in all the communities it serves. Here are just a few of USPS' environmental accomplishments:

-- Recycling. The Postal Service is one of the largest recyclers in the nation, with more than 20,000 recycling centers. The Postal Service also has stringent purchasing requirements, last year purchasing more than $200 million worth of products with recycled content. The USPS also requires copier paper to have at least 30% post consumer recycled content, and its packaging envelopes and boxes are made from 100 percent recyclable materials.

-- Mail good for the environment. A special report last year concluded that mail is not only not bad for the environment, it is actually good for it because shopping by mail reduces trips by vehicle, which reduces pollution, accidents, and dependence on foreign oil. The report concluded that the annual benefits from direct mail were more than triple the estimated cost of disposing of it.

-- Air pollution and alternative-fuel vehicles. The Postal Service will have more than 30,000 alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) in its fleet by the end of 2001. Besides its AFV fleet, the Postal Service helps to combat air pollution by decreasing vehicle emissions through car-pooling, reducing driving, and keeping vehicles tuned up.

-- Waste into revenue. By taking mail to be delivered to post offices and bringing back undeliverable and spent mail and other materials for recycling to the central plants with the same vehicles (referred to as back-hauling), and by contracting directly with recycling firms, a former waste disposal expense has become a revenue generating business. Last year the Postal Service increased its revenue from recycling by 60%.

-- Sustainable development. The Postal Service practices sustainable development with its facilities, energy program, and technology development. Rather than trashing items such as used printer cartridges, old batteries, and obsolete electronic equipment and sending them to landfills, the USPS reuses and recycles them

United States Postal Service

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