Effective immediately, Handbook AS-701, Material Management, Part 646, Proprietary Items Requiring Special Processing, and Part 647, Methods and Priority, are revised to include changes to policy covering the disposal of USPS® collection boxes.
Handbook AS-701, Material Management
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6 Asset Recovery: Redistribution, Recycling, and Disposal
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64 Recycling and Disposal
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646 Proprietary Items Requiring Special Processing
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646.5 Post Office Boxes
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646.53 Donations
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Postal Service managers must not grant approval to donate Post Office box units or collection boxes in response to requests from federal or state agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, or a public body. All actions concerning the above items must be conducted in accordance with the procedures outlined in 647.26.
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646.8 Collection Boxes
646.81 Policy
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Collection boxes, including post type, street collection, and relay storage boxes must not be sold to the public. They must be destroyed by the owning Postal Service entity and sold as scrap. Collection boxes designated for sale as scrap must be recycled. Contact a USPS environmental specialist for information concerning federal, state, and local scrap metal recycling requirements. (See 647.271). Collection boxes, including post type, street collection, and relay storage boxes, must not be loaned to organizations or agencies, including federal agencies, except as provided in 646.82.
646.82 Loans
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With approval from the manager of Public Affairs, Corporate Communications, surplus collection boxes may be loaned to a federal agency such as a museum, for exhibit purposes only. There is no requirement to change the color or remove the indicia, although the lock must be removed and an audit trail established and maintained until the item is returned. A written license agreement must also be executed to keep the use of the collection box under Postal Service control. The Postal Service must use PS Form 1590 signed by both parties and a signed license agreement acknowledging the Postal Service rights to monitor all collection box loans.
A loan of a collection box for use in a motion picture, on broadcast or cable television, and/or in advertising agencies is executed under a licensing agreement for a fee or no fee. Go to http://www.usps.com/rightsandpermissions/ for an overview of the rights and permissions program and for more detailed information. Rights and Permissions, Chief Counsel, Corporate Law, must maintain a copy of the license agreement when a collection box is licensed by a third party for use in the entertainment industry or for any other purposes. All requests must be approved by the manager of Public Affairs, Corporate Communications.
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647 Methods and Priority
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647.2 Methods
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647.26 Donation to a Federal or State Agency, an Academic Institution, a Nonprofit Organization, or a Public Body
647.261 Policy
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The Postal Service defines a public body as any state, territory, or possession of the United States, any political subdivision thereof, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any American Indian tribe. Collection boxes and Post Office boxes that are designated surplus to Postal Service needs must not be donated to federal or state agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, or a public body, but shall be recycled or destroyed and scrapped. Surplus material that is unmarketable, excluding collection boxes and Post Office boxes, may be donated to state agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, or a public body. Materials classified other than collection boxes that are designated surplus, nonsensitive, expendable, or obsolete are referenced in 647.262 and may be dealt with accordingly.
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647.264 Donation to Foreign Government
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Consideration may be given by the installation head or the assigned designee on a case-by-case basis to donate surplus equipment, other than collection boxes and Post Office boxes, to a foreign government. Requests for specific equipment will normally be received from International Postal Affairs. Approval to donate any equipment will be granted by the manager of Asset Management and Asset Management Performance & Accountability (AMPA). Surplus equipment located in the field will be processed for shipment through AMPA and the Asset Accountability Service Centers.
647.27 Destruction and Landfill Disposal
647.271 Policy
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Postal Service facilities, offices, departments, and entities must not use landfills to dispose of collection boxes. Postal Service entities that designate collection boxes for destruction must destroy by scrapping out the equipment followed by metal recycling. Methodologies used to process recyclables normally generate residual (waste) that cannot be sold, reprocessed, or reused. The processes noted above are the only authorized methods of destruction or disposal for collection boxes. The methods above comply with the Environmental Protection Agency, federal, state, and local environmental laws, and Postal Service regulations concerning the destruction, disposal, or recycling of metal objects.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed edition of Handbook AS-701and into the online update available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
n Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
n Under “Essential Links” in the left-hand column, click PolicyNet.
n On the PolicyNet page, click HBKs.
(The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.)
— Asset Management,
Supply Management, 4-22-10
