To help mark Earth Day, which is Sunday, April 22, here are five ways the Postal Service helps the planet.
1. USPS uses the power of the sun. The Los Angeles Processing and Distribution Center has a solar power generation system comprised of 31,000 solar panels. This makes the center the city’s largest postal facility generating electricity through solar energy.
2. The Postal Service helps customers reduce waste. Through the BlueEarth Secure Destruction service, mailers can have their undeliverable First-Class letter mail destroyed securely at a postal facility instead of being returned to the sender.
3. USPS employees walk the walk. The Postal Service has 6,955 letter carriers who deliver mail entirely on foot — a USPS “fleet of feet” that saves the organization on vehicle costs, gas and more.
4. The Postal Service recycles. USPS operates several recycling programs, including the National Recycling Operation, which uses existing transportation to backhaul recyclables from Post Offices to processing centers for consolidation and diversion from landfill to recycling.
5. The organization is looking toward the future. The Postal Service has pledged to reduce the amount of energy it uses per square feet of building space 25 percent by 2025.
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