The United States Postal Service® is committed to being a sustainability leader by creating a culture of conservation in the communities that we serve. As we work to improve sustainable and environmentally focused solutions that decrease our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the Office of Sustainability Energy Initiatives team shepherds the reporting of our progress to the federal government and other organizations.
To move the mail, the Postal Service™ operates facilities and vehicles across the continental United States and its territories. These assets are our major source of resource consumption. Consistent with other agencies and companies that prioritize a culture of conservation, we set targets, measure progress, and report results to show our progress and further our transparency. The USPS® Annual Sustainability Report provides an update each year on our sustainability strategies and performance. Learn more by visiting usps.com/green.
The following items highlight Postal Service achievements towards our 2019 goals:
1. Facility Energy
Our mail processing, vehicle maintenance, and retail operations take place in over 32,000 facilities nationwide. In an effort to achieve energy use reduction targets each year, we track and report energy consumption at each facility.
Goal: Reduce facility energy intensity 25 percent by 2025.
Result for 2019: Facility energy intensity decreased by 2.7 percent from the previous year. We have a 4.2 percent reduction toward our goal from a 2015 baseline, which is the equivalent of removing over 30,000 cars from the road for a year.
2. Greenhouse Gases
Operations and processes emit GHG emissions that absorb infrared radiation, which then traps and holds heat in the atmosphere. As sustainability leaders, the Postal Service has established goals to conserve natural resources and reduce GHG emissions. We conduct annual GHG inventories and report our results to the federal government, the International Postal Corporation, and The Climate Registry. These reports help us maintain transparency while measuring progress toward our goals as we develop emission reduction strategies.
USPS places its GHG emissions into three categories:
n Scope 1 includes emissions from Postal Service-owned sources, such as vehicles and facilities.
n Scope 2 includes emissions from indirect sources, such as purchased electricity and steam.
n Scope 3 includes other indirect emissions sources, such as those associated with transmission and distribution losses, employee business travel and commuting, and contracted wastewater treatment and solid waste disposal
USPS established the following targets for GHG reductions:
Goal: Reduce Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions by 25 percent by 2025.
Result for 2019: USPS has achieved a 22.4 percent reduction from the 2008 baseline, which is the equivalent of removing 255,790 cars from the road for a year.
Goal: Reduce Scope 3 GHG emissions by 30 percent by 2025.
Result for 2019: USPS has achieved a 19.8 percent reduction from the 2008 baseline.
3. Recycling
In fiscal year (FY) 2019, the Postal Service completed the final installations of recycling equipment for the National Recycling Operation (NRO) and increased focus on backhaul recycling training. Each year, we measure our total generated waste and calculate how much waste is diverted to recycling.
Goal: Increase waste diversion from landfills to recycling by 1 percent compared to last year.
Result for 2019: In FY 2019, USPS diverted 58.3 percent of our solid waste to recycling. That’s a significant improvement over the FY 2018 diversion rate, which was 51.7 percent.
To learn more about the NRO, visit blue.usps.gov/sustainability/national-recycling-operation.htm.
