The Postal Service is getting no stimulus money for making its federal buildings more energy efficient. It’s all going to be done with the revenue it makes when you buy a postage stamp. (Photo courtesy of the US Postal Service)
The US Postal Service is the first
government agency to report how much
of the greenhouse gases it emits.
Five-point-three metric tons a year.
Lester Graham reports on how it plans
to reduce its emissions:
Transcript
The US Postal Service is the first
government agency to report how much
of the greenhouse gases it emits.
Five-point-three metric tons a year.
Lester Graham reports on how it plans
to reduce its emissions:
The post office goal is to reduce emissions 20% by the year 2020.
Sam Pulcrano is the Vice President of Sustainability at the Postal Service. He says, over the next six years, they’ll cut fuel consumption by 20% and energy use by 30%. They’re already doing energy audits of the 500 largest postal facilities.
“And where it makes business sense, we’re replacing things like roofs, the HVAC systems, replacing windows with more energy efficient windows and lighting with high-efficiency lighting.”
Graham: “There’s been some consideration of eliminating Saturday delivery. Is that figured into your calculations on reducing greenhouse gases?”
“It will if and when Congress gives us the ability to do so.”
The Postal Service is getting no stimulus money for making its federal buildings more energy efficient. It’s all going to be done with the revenue it makes when you buy a postage stamp.
The 2008 Nature of America issuance, Great Lakes Dunes, is the
tenth stamp pane in an educational series that features the beauty and
complexity of major plant and animal communities in the United States. A description of the dunes and a numbered key to the artwork appear on the
back of the stamp pane, along with a corresponding list of common and
scientific names for 27 selected species. (Photo courtesy of the USPS)
The Great Lakes are getting a stamp of
approval from the Postal Service. Heidi Chang
reports there’s a new sheet of postal stamps
that celebrate the region:
Transcript
The Great Lakes are getting a stamp of
approval from the Postal Service. Heidi Chang
reports there’s a new sheet of postal stamps
that celebrate the region:
The new sheet of stamps is the latest in the Postal Service’s “Nature
in America” series.
John Dawson created the painting depicted on the sheet of stamps. It
features 27 different kinds of plants and animals found in the Great
Lakes Dunes.
Dawson says he hopes the stamps will make people more aware of the
beauty of the dunes, and the need to save the whole environment.
“The animals, the plants, the flowers, the bugs, it’s all inter-related.
That’s what’s important about showing this stuff – that it’s important to
keep the environment intact, because there’s so many things that
depend on each other.”
Dawson has designed all ten of the Nature of America series. But this
one is special to him because he started his career living in the Great
Lakes region.
The US Postal Service is beginning an e-waste recycling program through the mail (Photo courtesy of the USPS)
Many of us just don’t know what to do
with that old cell phone or outdated digital
camera. While some companies take the devices
back, not all do. Now, the US Postal Service
says it’s coming to the rescue. Mark Brush
reports – the post office is developing a free
electronics recycling program:
Transcript
Many of us just don’t know what to do
with that old cell phone or outdated digital
camera. While some companies take the devices
back, not all do. Now, the US Postal Service
says it’s coming to the rescue. Mark Brush
reports – the post office is developing a free
electronics recycling program:
Throwing out an old electronic device is wrong for several reasons. The devices can
contain toxic heavy metals which can pollute the environment. And there are many parts
that can be reused.
The US Postal Service is piloting a recycling program in some big cities across the
country – including Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington D.C.
They’re giving people
free, postage-paid envelopes. You can stuff your old cell phone or mp3 player into the
envelope and drop it in the mail.
It’s delivered to a recycling company called Clover Technologies Group. The company
says it tries to refurbish and resell what it can. If the device can’t be resold, it’s broken
down, and the materials that can be are recycled. The other stuff is thrown in a landfill.
Critics say while these recycling programs are a good first step, the companies who
make these devices should design them so all the parts can be reused.
Mixed paper (including "junk" mail) gets trucked to recycling facilities
like this one for recycling. First, it's unloaded in big piles, then pulled
up a conveyor belt for sorting. (Photo courtesy of the City of Ann Arbor)
Workers pull out contaminants from the mixed paper as it whizzes by. The paper then falls into a bunker, and is pulled up another big conveyor belt. (Photo courtesy of the City of Ann Arbor)
Finally, a machine packs the paper into giant bales weighing about one ton apiece. If there's a local market for the paper, it might be made into paperboard for products such as cereal boxes... but much of it is sold to companies overseas, particularly in China. (Photo courtesy of the City of Ann Arbor)
If it seems like your mailbox is stuffed with more shiny credit card offers and catalogs than ever before, you’re right. The U.S. Postal Service says the volume of advertising mail outpaced first class mail for the first time last year. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports… city waste managers and environmental groups are concerned that all that mail is going to add up to a lot more waste:
Transcript
If it seems like your mailbox is stuffed with more shiny credit card offers
and catalogs than ever before, you’re right. The U.S. Postal Service says
the volume of advertising mail outpaced first class mail for the first time
last year. The GLRC’s Rebecca Williams reports… city waste managers and
environmental groups are concerned that all that mail is going to add up to
a lot more waste:
(Sound of squeaky mailbox opening)
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like no one sends me letters anymore.
Which means my mailbox is all coupons and catalogs and pizza ads. That’s
not all bad, but honestly, most of it goes right to the shredder.
(Sound of shredder)
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, that’s a pretty common
reaction. The EPA points to one study showing that 44 percent of advertising mail
is thrown away without being opened or read.
And there’s a lot coming in. Last year, marketers and non-profit groups sent
about 101 billion pieces of mail. That’s billion with a “B.”
You might call this junk mail, but people in the business have a more
affectionate name for it: direct mail.
Pat Kachura is with the Direct Marketing Association. She says direct mail
yields a very high return on investment.
“Marketers yield about a 7 dollar return on investment for every dollar
spent on catalog marketing, and about 15, almost 16 dollars return for every
dollar spent on non-catalog direct mail marketing.”
The Association’s annual report says those hefty returns are based on an
average of just 2.7 percent of people responding to the ads they get in the
mail. Last year, that meant more than 600 billion dollars in sales.
So, it’s profitable for marketers to fill up your mailbox.
But critics say there are hidden costs that marketers aren’t paying. Some
of those costs also arrive in your mailbox in the form of a bill from your
city for solid waste disposal or recycling.
(Sound of paper pouring into bunker from conveyor belt)
If your city accepts mixed paper for recycling, your junk mail comes to a
facility like this one where it’s sorted and packaged into giant bales
weighing one ton each.
Bryan Weinert is the solid waste coordinator for the city of Ann Arbor,
Michigan.
“We end up getting about $70 a ton back in the value of the junk mail that’s
recycled. But remember it’s costing the city roughly $125 a ton or so to
pick it up.”
Weinert says his city is lucky because it has double the nation’s average
recycling rate. He says communities that don’t have a recycling program
bear even higher costs to dispose of mixed paper.
In this case, the bales of paper get made into Kellogg’s cereal boxes.
Tom Watson is with the National Waste Prevention Coalition. He says it’s
good when there’s a local market for recycled junk mail, but much of it
actually gets sent overseas.
“The unwanted mail, the mixed paper, generally has a very low value, that is often
shipped to China and it comes back to us in the kind of mottled packaging found on
the products that we buy from China. So, it comes full circle but it’s not
very efficient, all the costs of the transportation and recycling.”
Watson says it’d be much more efficient to cut back on all that mail in the
first place.
The Direct Marketing Association does offer an opt-out service. The group
says their members aren’t allowed to send any new mailings to people who
sign up. The fastest way to sign up is online, but you have to pay a $5
charge.
Tom Watson with the National Waste Prevention Coalition says that charge
might put people off. He says he’d like to see a national Do Not Mail list.
One that isn’t controlled by the industry.
“It’s very common in other countries, you can’t send mail to someone unless
they say in advance, yes I want to receive that mail from you.”
You might expect that the folks at the Direct Marketing Association aren’t
fans of the Do Not Mail list idea, but they’re not the only ones.
“What is our position on that? (laughs) I wouldn’t like that to occur.”
George Hurst is the brand manager of direct mail for the Postal Service.
It’s his job to get direct mailers to send more mail. That’s because it’s
the second largest source of revenue for the Postal Service, in the tens of
billions of dollars.
Hurst says new laws aren’t needed. Instead, he says marketers just need to
know their audiences.
“The ones that don’t do it too well, and just blanket the earth with a message,
God bless ’em, we love the postage. But you gotta know that if you’re
talking to someone who is say, 100 miles away, about coming to your
dry cleaners, you’re probably missing the mark.”
But critics say consumers deserve to have more say over the mail they bring
into their homes. They say marketers make so much money from the mail they
send… that for that small chance you might be interested in a coupon book or
sale notice, you shouldn’t have to pay the cost to throw it away or recycle
it.
Amtrak is starting to phase out the Three Rivers route. The National Association of Railroad Passengers is trying to prevent this from continuing. (photo by Michael Jastremski)
Phase-outs have started for an Amtrak passenger train that crosses through the Midwest. It’s the latest in a series of service cutbacks over the last few decades. But some riders are trying to reverse Amtrak’s decision. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach recently rode the rail line in question and talked with some passengers about the pending loss of service:
Transcript
Phase-outs have started for an Amtrak passenger train that crosses through the Midwest. It’s the latest in a series of service cutbacks over the last few decades. But some riders are trying to reverse Amtrak’s decision. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach recently rode the rail line in question and talked with some passengers about the pending loss of service:
(sound of train)
Amtrak has started reducing service on the Three Rivers line between Chicago and Philadelphia. By next April, people in Nappanee, Indiana and Akron, Youngstown, and Fostoria, Ohio will no longer have a passenger train in their city.
On a recent morning, Chicago resident Martin Escutia was riding the Three Rivers to see a friend in Youngstown. He had just flown to Chicago from Central America.
“Being as tired as I was, having the opportunity to be able to bed down and wake up at my destination it’s good convenience, it’s good to have.”
Escutia says losing the Three Rivers will put more people on highways and take away a transportation option. The National Association of Railroad Passengers is trying to restore the cutbacks. But Amtrak says Three Rivers service between Pittsburgh and Chicago was only started to haul bulk mail, and Amtrak is dropping the mail service because it doesn’t make enough money.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Chuck Quirmbach.
The Coast Guard has completed its investigation into the capsizing and sinking of the J.W. Westcott II. The J.W. Westcott delivers mail, miscellaneous items, and crew members to Great Lakes freighters as they pass through the Detroit River. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
Transcript
The Coast Guard has completed its investigation into the
capsizing and sinking of the J.W. Westcott II. The J.W. Westcott
delivers mail, miscellaneous items, and crew members to Great
Lakes freighters as they pass through the Detroit River. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
Last October, the J.W. Westcott II sank while attempting to drop-off and pick up a pilot from a tanker. The J.W. Westcott’s captain and a crew member died in the accident. The coast guard has concluded that the captain misjudged the effects of the water and waves surrounding the tanker. However, the coast guard’s report and an earlier report from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada found several contributing factors. The J.W. Westcott II was early, there was no communication between the two vessels, and the tanker hadn’t slowed down yet. The coast guard’s report recommends changes in training and procedures for how the J.W. Westcott II approaches, meets, and conducts transfers with ships. Since the accident the J.W. Westcott II was pulled up from the bottom of the river, fixed, and is back delivering mail to the passing ships.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tamar Charney.
Pleasure boaters from Canada will find getting permits to enter Great Lakes ports across the border a little more demanding since the terrorist attacks on the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
Transcript
Pleasure boaters from Canada will find getting permits to enter Great Lakes
ports across the border a little more demanding since the terrorist attacks
on the U.S. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports:
It used to be… a Canadian boater simply had to send in an application for
what’s known as an I-68 permit to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization
Service and once it was received, they could freely travel back and forth.
Kimberly Weissman is with the INS office. She explains, since September
11th, the new rules first require Canadians to go to a port of entry.
“Going in for an inspection… it’s no longer done by mail. You
have an interview and you take a photograph and have fingerprints. Once all
of this is complete, you know, you’ll be given your one year permit and then
you will no longer be required to go to a port of entry for any other
further inspections.”
Weissman says the U.S. government didn’t want to hurt the marina and
tourist-based businesses in the Great Lakes, but felt the new stricter
program was necessary for the security of the country.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Lester Graham.
The Postal Service is getting no stimulus money for making its federal buildings more energy efficient. It’s all going to be done with the revenue it makes when you buy a postage stamp. (Photo courtesy of the US Postal Service)
