USPS to roll out sustainability teams across America
The United States Postal Service is planning on ramping up its environmental sustainability efforts over the next two years. The company’s acting Chief Sustainability Officer Emil Dzuray said on Tuesday that the organization is set to build upon the “significant” achievements made by more than 80 “Lean Green Teams” last year.
The teams achieved $27 million in cost savings and additional revenue for the loss-making Postal Service in 2010, through energy, water and fuel conservation measures as well as waste recycling programs.
The USPS is now set to deploy Lean Green Teams nationwide by 2012, Mr Dzuray said, building a “conservation culture”.
He said: “With nearly 32,000 facilities, a presence in every community, and the largest civilian fleet in the nation, we know how important our efforts are to make a positive impact on the environment.”
With a particular emphasis on “low cost and no-cost” initiatives, the USPS Lean Green Teams saved more than $5 million in 2010 by cutting energy and water use, as well as petroleum fuel consumption in the company’s 215,000-strong vehicle fleet.
Recycling efforts last year saw more than 220,000 tons of material diverted from landfills, bringing in $13 million in extra revenue as well as saving $9.1 million in landfill fees, the Postal Service said.
The USPS is now “on track” to meet Obama Administration sustainability targets by 2015, Mr Dzuray claimed, including reducing facility energy use by 30%, water use by 10%, petroleum fuel use by 20% and landfill disposal by 50%.
Senator Tom Carper, the chair of the US Senate subcommittee that oversees the USPS, congratulated the Postal Service, saying its “culture of thrift and conservation” would pay dividends.
He said: “The Postal Service volunteered to hold itself to the ambitious goals set out in President Obama’s 2009 executive order for federal agencies and it looks like it is well on its way to meeting those goals.”
The Senator from Delaware is currently preparing to re-introduce legislation into Congress to offer more resources to federal agencies like the USPS to help improve their sustainability in the light of the federal targets.
He said a bill similar to last year’s proposal, the Improving Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Use By Federal Agencies Act, could be introduced within the next few months.
