By now you have probably heard something about the USPS Lean Green Teams, whether through the USPS News Link, in one of our press releases, or simply by word of mouth from a co-worker. Lean Green Teams are doing a lot to help USPS reduce waste, save money, and increase revenue through recycling. The Postal Service saved more than $40 million dollars in 2011 by taking action to reduce wasted energy, water, solid waste to landfills, and petroleum fuel use. The USPS Lean Green Teams were a key component toward the success of these efforts. They also helped the Postal Service recycle over 215,000 tons of material — a modest decline over the prior year. Despite this modest decline, the Postal Service generated $24 million from waste paper and cardboard and saved nearly $14 million in landfill fees.
“How can I participate?” you may be asking yourself. The answer is simple. Go to http://blue.usps.gov/wps/portal; click Sustainability. Then click Lean Green Teams. You will find everything you need to get involved right there. You will need to get the approval of your facility manager, and then you can establish a cross-functional Lean Green Team at your facility. Or maybe you work at one of our smallest facilities where you might be the only one on your team. It doesn’t matter — everyone can participate, and every effort, however small, counts! That’s why the Lean Green Team initiative is designed to allow teams to manage their participation within the allowances of their own resources.
First, click Green Team Orientation course on the Lean Green Team page. This is a PowerPoint presentation, which is an overview of the Lean Green Team initiative, in case you want to present it to fellow workers to let them know what it is all about. Next, click the Green Initiative Tracking Tool. The Green Initiative Tracking Tool, or “GITT”, is the place where facility teams can register their participation online and select from approximately 45 low-cost projects designed specifically to reduce waste in five targeted categories: facility energy, vehicle petroleum fuel, water, solid waste, and consumables. The GITT also provides step-by-step instructions for implementation of the projects (see the links on the Green Team page to the short tutorials for getting access to the GITT via e-access, and navigating through the GITT). You will also find several other helpful links and tools on the Lean Green Teams page, including the Lean Green Team Guide and Green Project List.
Once your facility is registered on the GITT, you will be able to select projects that you want to work on at your facility. If a project is listed that doesn’t apply, you can check “Not Applicable.” If a project is listed that you’ve already implemented at your facility, you can check “complete.” You can also access dashboards that show the completion status of the selected projects, as well as the facility’s monthly cost and usage information compiled automatically from USPS data systems for each targeted category in the “Reports” section. Teams and management can easily access the information to evaluate the effectiveness of the sustainable activities that are being implemented at their facilities.
Start a Lean Green Team. If you have questions on how to proceed, contact Dianne Shoaf at the Office of Sustainability at Dianne.L.Shoaf@usps.gov. Help make the United States Postal Service a more sustainable place to work. You can truly make a difference!
