USPS offers recycling by mail
Most people are familiar with the U.S. Postal Service’s commitment to deliver the mail despite snow or rain, heat or gloom of night. But how about delivering a sustainable future?
In fact, the greening of the USPS has been underway for quite some time. Over the past 10 years the government agency has received some 70 environmental awards. While most of its efforts have been behind the scenes—such as using alternative fuels for trucks and recycling mail and packaging materials—there are some new initiatives that consumers can get involved in.
RECYCLING & DISPOSAL
As part of its “Saving of America’s Resources,” or SOAR, initiative, the USPS is partnering with various companies to help recycle and dispose of certain types of products. Here’s the latest on what can be recycled and where:
Electronics recycling. As part of a pilot program, 1,500 post offices in 10 areas across the country are giving away prepaid envelopes consumers can use to mail in small electronics items for free recycling. Those include PDAs, digital cameras, cell phones, and ink cartridges. Postage is paid by the recipient company, Clover Technologies, which recycles, remanufactures, or resells the products, and claims to avoid contributing any materials to landfills. Keeping electronics out of landfills is a smart move since some contain toxic materials, including lead, cadmium, and mercury that can leak into the soil and ground water. To find out if your local post office carries the recycling envelopes, stop by or find your branch’s phone number and call. For more information about recycling electronics, visit our Electronics Reuse and Recycling Center.
CFL recycling. The USPS has partnered with lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania and a division of the world’s largest waste-services companies, Veolia Environmental Services, to create a pilot compact-fluorescent-bulb recycling program. Recycling CFLs can help keep mercury out of the environment because each bulb contains a small amount of the hazardous heavy metal that can be released when the bulbs are incinerated or landfilled. In order to recycle CFLs, consumers must purchase a “RecyclePak” online for $15, which includes a return shipping label. The kit can hold up to 12 small bulbs or six to eight medium to large ones. The packages can then be shipped from any post office or given directly to a letter carrier. Here are some other options for recycling CFLs.
Pharmaceutical disposal. During May 2008, the USPS will begin a pilot program in Maine in partnership with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, among other agencies and organizations, to safely dispose of pharmaceuticals. If drugs are flushed down the toilet, which was once a common practice, they can potentially contaminate soil and groundwater. The initial pilot phase will target older adults and their caregivers. Select pharmacies in the state will hand out prepaid envelopes that can be used to mail all legal prescription and non-prescription medications to the Maine DEA, where they will be catalogued and safely disposed of. For more about how to properly dispose of prescription drugs, check the federal disposal guidelines.
GREENER PACKAGING
“Cradle-to-Cradle” packaging. Postal service mailing and shipping supplies have long contained recycled content. But now some packaging materials carry a green certification as well. In June 2007, the USPS announced that all Priority Mail and Express Mail envelopes and boxes, as well as some other mailing supplies like labels and packaging tape, are Cradle-to-Cradle (C2C) certified. That means they meet the standards created by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry for their impact on human and environmental health, recyclability, and use of water and energy throughout production. Note that Consumers Union has not evaluated the C2C label for its meaningfulness.
Greener stamps, too. The USPS says they’re now made with soy-based inks and nontoxic, biodegradable adhesives.
To learn more about the USPS’s green efforts, visit its newly launched Web site, Greener Choices with the US Postal Service.
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