Postal Service Wins White House Environmental Awards

Two Closing the Circle Awards, Three Honorable Mentions

WASHINGTON, DC—Five U.S. Postal Service environmental initiatives have been recognized by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, part of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Two initiatives received the prestigious 2008 Closing the Circle Awards and three received honorable mentions. Since the inception of the program in 1996, the Postal Service has won 39 awards.

“The Postal Service is committed to protecting the environment,” said Michael Fanning, manager, Environmental Policy and Programs. “Our goal is to lead by example and seek out innovative ways to encourage our employees, customers and business partners to do the same.”

The Postal Service’s Vendor Partnership for Envelope Reuse initiative won the Closing the Circle Award for “Waste/Pollution Prevention — Civilian.” This program encourages customers, vendors and business partners to reuse and recycle mailing products. The Postal Service partnered with three companies — MailAgain, Abitibi Paper Retriever, and Ecoenvelope — to create reusable envelopes and make recycling easier for our customers.

Winning the Closing the Circle Award for “Environmental Management Systems — Civilian” was the Postal Service’s Environmental Performance Track Initiative. This award recognizes the organization’s increased participation in EPA’s Performance Track Program in its Northeast and Western Areas. The Performance Track Program acknowledges and drives environmental excellence by encouraging facilities with strong environmental records to go above and beyond their legal requirements.

Honorable Mentions were received for the following categories:

In the “Waste/Pollution Prevention — Civilian” category, the Postal Service was recognized for its Cradle-to-Cradle Certified Mailing Products. Cradle-to-Cradle certification is a scientifically based process that reviews specific criteria to assess environmental attributes of materials used in products. The Postal Service received Cradle-to-Cradle Certification at the Silver level in 2007 for its eco-friendly boxes and envelopes for Express Mail and Priority Mail.
In the “Green Purchasing — Civilian” category, the Postal Service’s Green Purchasing Program was recognized for raising the bar at the national level with the creation of an agency-wide Green Purchasing Plan and Green Purchasing Implementation Tools, which now include bio-based products and fuels integrated into national purchasing policies.
In the “Electronic Stewardship — Civilian” category, the Postal Service was recognized for its national Electronics Stewardship and Recycling Program, which combines the strengths of information technology, supply management and procurement to recycle all electronic products, printer cartridges, mobile phones, PDAs, etc.

The White House Closing the Circle Awards recognize outstanding federal environmental stewardship. The awards will be presented at a White House ceremony this summer.

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An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation — 146 million homes and businesses. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.