WASHINGTON—The U.S. Postal Service has just amped up its cyber presence. Today the agency unveiled a slick, new version of its green website, usps.com/green. First launched in 2008, the improved version is an attention-getter for people who care about the environment.

No tickets are needed for the usps.com/green cyber tour, which transports visitors to forests where 1.7 million new trees are planted each day to replace what’s harvested. There’s a place for children to learn how to create green family trees and great tips anyone can use to make the home environment more renewable.

Take a visual stroll through the Postal Service’s greenest hits. Get 100 percent free, 100 percent recyclable Priority Mail and Express Mail packaging supplies delivered directly to home or office at no charge. The Postal Service is the only mailing and shipping company in America to be Cradle to Cradle™ certified for the environmental and health standards of its packaging. Postal Service packaging supplies are so green, the half billion pieces provided to customers last year prevented more than 15,000 tons of carbon emissions. That’s equal to the amount from 2,747 average vehicles driving on the road for a year.

In October 2009, the Postal Service became the first federal agency to report its carbon emissions. Find out more about the Postal Service’s carbon footprint at usps.com/green. Learn how to calculate savings and help the environment by mailing and shipping from the online Post Office that is always open.

“Friends of the environment will find smart tools on usps.com/green to measure their carbon emissions and create individual conservation plans,” said Sam Pulcrano, vice president of Sustainability. "The Skip the Trip calculator shows how to save money, fuel and energy by using our easy online services. It's another way the Postal Service helps customers make greener choices about their mail."

The Postal Service has made recycling a priority. The agency recycled 274,000 tons of paper, plastics and other waste in 2008, enough to fill up the Empire State Building one and a half times. On usps.com/green everyone can recycle. From small electronics and ink jet cartridges through the mail, to larger items at any of 100,000 recycling centers around the country, the Postal Service makes it easy to go green!

The revamped usps.com/green is one of many environmental achievements in 2009, including:

• Saving $3 million and nearly 100 million kilowatts in an agency-wide energy challenge
• Avoiding $1.05 million in costs via green information technology initiatives
• Helping customers divert 24,000 tons of paper from landfills by recycling in 6,000 Post Office lobbies
• Increasing alternative fuel use 61 percent since 2005
• Using electric, propane and natural gas delivery vehicles and retiring 10,000 non-energy efficient vehicles.

Since 1995, the Postal Service has won more than 75 major environmental awards, including 40 White House Closing the Circle awards for environmental stewardship, the 2009 Climate Action Champion award, the Direct Marketing Association Echo Green Award and the 2009 Postal Technology International Environmental Achievement of the Year award.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/welcome.htm.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 150 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars. With 36,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, the Postal Service relies on the sale of postage, products and services to pay for operating expenses. Named the Most Trusted Government Agency five consecutive years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $68 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 26th in the 2008 Fortune 500.