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Success Stories - Federal Government
Success Stories
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The Presidio Trust
The Presidio Trust, a federal management agency overseeing the preservation and enhancement of the Presidio National Park site, works in harmony with the park it protects. In 2001, the California based trust expanded its onsite composting project by three times, processing more than 250 tons of manure, grass, and brush onsite and saving the trust $4,500 in disposal fees. The Presidio Trust developed Green Building Guidelines for the rehabilitation of historic buildings and utilizes the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating for new construction. It salvaged or donated $50,000 worth of materials to date.
In 2001, through recycling, salvage, composting, and source reduction, the Trust diverted more than 3,750 tons of materials from the waste stream. Metal recycling alone saved $6,000 in avoided disposal fees and prevented the production of GHGs equivalent to 90 cars driving for a year.
Aimee Vincent, sustainability manager, discussed the benefit of the trust’s WasteWise partnership. “Our affiliation with WasteWise has given our waste reduction program increased exposure in the federal government and greater credibility with employees who were originally skeptical of waste reduction efforts.”
Sandia National Laboratories
Sandia National Laboratories is building green—and “Silver.” A new building at Sandia is registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and has received “Silver” certification, the first such in New Mexico. To ensure diversion of construction waste, Sandia opened the Construction and Demolition Recycle Center to recycle surplus building materials from onsite construction projects. To promote green buildings, contractors are required to report waste prevention, recycling tontonnage, and recycled content usage. Additionally, all new buildings at Sandia are required to be composed of more than 50 percent recycled content materials.
The New Mexico and California facilities of Sandia National Laboratories prevented 209 tons of solid waste by switching to reusable cafeteria dishware, saving the federal facility approximately $22,000 in 2000. Sandia’s sustainable design principles made waste prevention a priority when designing new buildings. More than 200 items, including sinks and hardware, were reused and more than 656 tons of construction debris was recycled. Sandia, which employs 9,000 people, also made improvements in its recycling collection system and worked to reduce contamination. These activities contributed to the recycling of an impressive 17,989.3 tons of building materials, 169.7 tons of computer paper, 85.2 tons of corrugated boxes, 35.3 tons of mixed paper, 31.5 tons of newspaper, 2.9 tons of plastic bottles, and more than 50 tons of yard trimmings, which were sent to a compost facility.
Sandia National Laboratories implemented an innovative method to ensure its staff buys “green.” When employees try to order conventional products, the laboratory’s purchasing system automatically blocks the order and substitutes an equivalent, greener product. This system enabled Sandia to double its level of compliance with federal environmental purchasing requirements. Additionally, the lab saved $72,000 and increased spending on recycled-content materials from $200,000 to $1.6 million after implementing the purchasing system.
In addition to buying products with recycled content, the lab collects large amounts of recyclables every year. In 2001, Sandia collected 800 tons of metals and 760 tons of paper products for recycling. Collection of these materials alone prevented the production of GHGs equivalent to taking 1,000 cars off the road for an entire year! Sandia National Laboratory makes great efforts to reuse materials as well. Using the U.S. Department of Energy’s material exchange, Sandia posted a notice for surplus air monitors. The equipment found new homes within 10 days. Another creative reuse idea—mulching wooden broom handles for use in landscaping.
U.S. EPA Region 9 – San Francisco, CA
U.S. EPA Region 9 found ways to prevent waste and promote the WasteWise program at every opportunity. The WasteWise message was spread through voice mails, electronic newsletters, a WasteWise category on the “Communicator” electronic bulletin board, and “Floor Representatives” provided information on waste reduction to employees. Three “Brown Bag” events, a “WasteWise Extravaganza Recycled Fashion Show” featuring fashions made from recycled products, and a “WasteWise Kick-Off Party” were also held to provide information and solicit ideas for waste reduction. More than 170 pounds of various supplies were collected for reuse at a “Swap-O-Rama” event in 2000. The federal facility also purchased 20 additional duplex laser printers and held “Duplex Days,” coordinated by the floor representatives to teach employees to route documents to duplex printers. Nearly 130 of the region’s 900 employees signed a pledge to duplex copy and print. U.S. EPA Region 9 also purchased an impressive $140,000 of recycled-content products in 2000.
U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) – Washington, DC
Charged with printing, binding, and disseminating information for the entire federal community, GPO sees a lot of paper in a year. However, GPO also has a 144-year history in reducing paper waste. Recycling paper waste since opening its doors in 1861, GPO recycled more than 4,500 tons in 2004. Continuing GPO’s waste prevention efforts, the Goal Sharing Program—a new program introduced in 2004 to encourage employees to make a positive difference at GPO through personal incentives— has set a goal to reduce paper waste by 15 percent. Within three months, employees saved more than $28,000 by reducing production paper waste.
GPO saved $20,000 in 2000 by initiating a program to repair approximately 4,000 wooden pallets equivalent to 80 tons. Pallets that cannot be repaired are chipped and sold by a contractor for use as mulch. The GPO also made $10,026 in profit from the sale of more than 11 tons of computers and electronic equipment for reuse. A new program to recycle all toner cartridges also saved the GPO more than $27,180 in 2000.
When not printing new government publications, employees from GPO rushed to shop at an internal swap meet. GPO asked employees, once in the spring and once in the fall, to gather excess computer equipment as well as furniture and supplies and leave them at the swap meet for others to collect. GPO limited items to those with a value of $500 or less to eliminate the need for paperwork. One other perk—employees didn’t have to bring something to take something. The event drew a nice crowd and educated employees on environmental responsibility, while saving the government thousands of dollars in avoided purchasing and disposal costs.
GPO also held two property sales, with a great emphasis on computer equipment. Items sold for reuse included more than 200 computers, 15 printers, 4 fax machines, 10 typewriters, 11 other office machines, plus 7 skidloads of miscellaneous parts. GPO diverted a total of 7 tons of electronic equipment from the landfill!
U.S. Postal Service Alabama District
The U.S. Postal Service Alabama District started its recycling program in 1997, two years before becoming a WasteWise Partner. Once a Partner, the Alabama District developed The Paperless Society. Encouraging electronic communications, the Alabama District saved approximately 70 tons of high-grade paper in 2005. The Alabama District relies on input from its employees and created an Online Swap Shop after a postmaster noticed excess materials in its facilities such as forms, office supplies, and furniture. In 2005, this effort saved the Alabama District more than $40,000 on supply purchases. More than 7,600 employees contributed to diverting almost 5,500 tons during this time through the Alabama District’s waste prevention and recycling efforts.
The 7,614 employees of the U.S. Postal Service – Alabama District worked to meet ambitious waste prevention, recycling, and buy-recycled goals in 2000. The Alabama District implemented several innovative programs to improve its electronic communications and tracking methods. These actions conserved 55 tons of high-grade paper through electronic routing of documents, 4,000 pounds of paper by switching to electronic time clocks, 3,400 pounds of high-grade paper through a new online reporting system and electronic document scanning, and 3,320 pounds of mixed paper by eliminating the use of several forms in the human resources department. The Alabama District sold wood pallets, mixed plastic items, and obsolete items for reuse, earning more than $22,198 in 2000. In addition, 500 tons of corrugated boxes were conserved when the Alabama District switched to a reusable alternative. Recycling efforts for the federal agency yielded revenues of more than $25,000.
The U.S. Postal Service – Alabama District donated 12 computer systems to the Urban League. Another 74 computer systems were sent to a postal warehouse and sold for reuse. The district also upgraded its existing equipment rather than purchasing new systems. As a result, 350 computers were upgraded. In addition, 5 monitors were sold for revenue of $110, and 7 printers were sold for revenue of $380. Three CD-ROM drives and eight printers were also recycled.
“How do you portray environmental stewardship in a stamp?” The U.S. Postal Service—Alabama District posed this question in 2001 with a “Design an Environmental Stamp” contest, one of the many ways the Alabama District is leading efforts in environmental stewardship within its offices. In addition, the district printed nearly 9,000 calendars this past year on recycled paper to encourage and inform workers about waste reduction and recycling.
To curb paper waste, the Alabama District expanded its Paperless Society, formed last year to replace paper timesheets with electronic time-clocks. In 2001, the postal district created electronic forms to replace paper tracking of personnel forms, memos, vending reports, and budget and travel information. These actions, along with a steady increase of e-mail communication, helped the Alabama District save nearly 85 tons of paper and $137,000. Additionally, the district recycled 4,000 tons of bulk mail in 2001. The Paperless Society activities, which generated $18,000 in recycling revenue, helped finance the more than $100,000 spent on postconsumer recycled-content paper purchased in 2001.
To further reduce waste, the Alabama District organized a swap shop through which multiple postal offices shared and reused resources and supplies. Participants exchanged more than $40,000 worth of office supplies, furniture, and equipment. Rather than using disposable mail carrier containers in 2001, the district acquired 320 reusable containers made of 50 percent recycled material along with nearly 12,000 recycled, reusable shipping pallets.
The U.S. Postal Service—Alabama District efficiently delivers the mail and, likewise, uses and reuses its computer equipment. In 2001 alone, the Alabama District upgraded and rebuilt nearly 500 computers rather than disposing of them. This exercise diverted more than 21 tons of electronic waste from landfills.
Additionally, the Post Office recycled computer equipment no longer used or needed. The Alabama District located piles of old electronic equipment stacked in storage and cleaned up its warehouses by collecting the equipment for recycling. With help from scrap metal and electronics recyclers, the Alabama District recycled nearly 3,000 computers, 20 laptops, 100 monitors, 65 printers, 3 copy/fax machines, and nearly 3,700 miscellaneous computer accessories in 2001. “We take responsibility for our electronics from cradle to grave,” said Ed Abrams, the district recycling coordinator, who is responsible for recycling an amazing and creative array of materials.
U.S. Postal Service Dallas District – Dallas, TX
A new Partner in 2004, the U.S. Postal Service–Dallas District quickly joined the ranks of WasteWise’s most impressive Partners. In fiscal year 2004, the Dallas District collected nearly 7,500 tons of mixed paper and another 360 tons of cardboard. Undeliverable mail and mixed office waste paper were transported—using existing transportation routes —to central hubs for recycling. These efforts alone generated more than $319,000 in revenue and saved the Dallas District an additional $245,000 in trash hauling costs.
U.S. Postal Service Northeast Area
The U.S. Postal Service Northeast Area is delivering a message: waste reduction is everyone’s responsibility. By educating its postmasters and facility managers, the Northeast Area has reduced waste in its own facilities. It also sends this message every day to its customers through lobby recycling programs used by more than 20 million people who visit Northeast area post offices. The Northeast Area joined WasteWise in 1997, and has since achieved many waste reduction goals, winning six consecutive WasteWise awards for its efforts.
With 3,200 participating post offices, the production of waste paper is inevitable. The Northeast Area is continually making strides to reduce paper waste through waste prevention and recycling. In 2004, for example, internal change-of-address procedures were updated, preventing more than 3,000 tons of undeliverable mail, and discarded mail was collected in post office lobbies for recycling.
The Northeast Area recycled nearly 39,000 tons of materials in 2004, including mixed paper, cardboard, wood, plastics, and tires. In one year, the Northeast Area realized more than $14 million in revenue from recycling and avoided purchasing costs of electronics and saved another $2.6 million through avoided disposal costs.
Serving more than 20 million customers, the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) Northeast Area processes a great deal of mail. In 2003, 19.4 billion pieces of mail passed through its post offices. To reduce the associated waste, the organization recycles undeliverable mail, discarded lobby mail, white paper, and computer printouts in its 3,200 facilities—resulting in more than 68.8 million pounds of mixed paper recycled in 2003. Due to improved lobby collection and expanded undeliverable mail collection, this amount represents a 14 percent increase from the previous year. In addition, through an innovative mail-back program, the Northeast Area recycled nearly 40,000 pounds of mercury lamps. The Northeast Area credits the success of its programs to the cooperation and dedication of its employees, who assist in the collection of recyclables and disseminate WasteWise information to all USPS Northeast Area employees through the District Newsletter. The employees put forth high amounts of enthusiasm and effort to ensure not only that the mail gets delivered, but that it gets recycled, too.
The U.S. Postal Service—Northeast Area, demonstrates a fierce commitment to pollution prevention and WasteWise ideals, resulting in constant improvement and innovation. In 2002, the organization completed the release of environmental compliance guidebooks to all 3,200 postmasters in the Northeast, provided postmaster training on waste reduction and buying recycled, and expanded its lamp recycling programs. In addition, postal service workers reused shipping boxes up to five times, preventing tons of corrugated cardboard from reaching landfills. The organization also avoided more than $2.6 million in annual landfill disposal costs through its recycling programs.
In 2000, the U.S. Postal Service – Northeast Area set out to ensure that all of its 3,200 post offices, vehicle maintenance facilities, and processing and distribution facilities implement waste reduction activities through pollution prevention plans. Although the ambitious goal to implement plans at every location was not achieved, the Northeast Area was successful in having more than 64 percent of all its post offices, 100 percent of vehicle maintenance facilities, and 100 percent of processing and distribution facilities implement pollution prevention plans in 2000. The Northeast Area also recycled 38,454 tons of undeliverable bulk business mail and 4,750 tons of corrugated boxes. Through a contract with the Northeast Area’s vendor, post offices were required to purchase recycled-content office products. As a result, the Northeast Area spent nearly $6.6 million on recycled-content products.
The U.S. Postal Service Northeast Area’s 76,854 employees and 3,200 post offices throughout New England and upstate New York continued to demonstrate their strong commitment to waste reduction in 1999. They reduced solid waste generation at 25 vehicle maintenance and 29 processing and distribution facilities by 50 percent compared with fiscal year 1992 generation rates. The Postal Service established a “Country Store” that reused 120 tons of various equipment and supplies from the 382 post offices in the Springfield District. It also repaired and refurbished 21 tons of steel mailboxes, saving $85,000.
For the past five years, the U.S. Postal Service—Northeast Area has upheld the definition of environmental excellence with continuous efforts to reduce its waste. In 2001, waste reduction efforts enabled the Northeast Area to save $2.6 million in avoided disposal costs. Building its waste reduction program around education, the Northeast Area recognizes the vital role its postmasters play in achieving WasteWise goals. To ensure environmentally responsible practices in all Northeast Area post offices, each postmaster received a copy of its Pollution Prevention Plan, which creates measurable goals for each postmaster. Over the past three years, the Northeast Area audited more than half of its facilities, creating the opportunity to personally educate many postmasters on its environmentally progressive policies.
The continued growth of the discarded lobby mail collection program marks another major success for the Northeast Area. More than 2,800 facilities participate in the recycling program, a 91 percent participation rate, which is higher than any other postal area. The Northeast Area increased the recycling participation rate for undeliverable bulk business mail to 98 percent throughout the region, collecting 8,500 tons for recycling in 2001.
The Northeast Area recycles its own materials as well, collecting more than 2,750 tons of corrugated cardboard and 34,000 tons of mixed paper. For this area, recycling pays—literally. The Northeast Area generated a revenue of more than $300,000 in 2001 from recycling cardboard, paper, glass, aluminum, and other materials. The Northeast Area is also diligent at closing the recycling loop, spending nearly $6 million on recycled content products. In fact, the contract with its supplier limits the purchase of office supplies to only those products containing recycled material.
The U.S. Postal Service Northeast Area’s 74,135 employees in 3,114 post offices throughout the New England states and upstate New York continued to demonstrate their strong commitment to reducing the generation of undeliverable standard mail throughout 1998. The Postal Service reduced 1,087 tons of bulk mail and saved $76,000 by promoting the national change of address program to major mailers. It also reduced the generation of solid waste at 25 vehicle maintenance and 29 processing and distribution facilities by 50 percent over fiscal year 1992 generation rates.
U.S. Postal Service Sacramento District – Sacramento, CA
The U.S. Postal Service – Sacramento District donated for reuse or recycled numerous electronic items in 2000, including 205 computers, 111 monitors, 75 keyboards, 64 printers, 10 envelope feeders, 4 copy machines, 2 fax machines, and 2 projectors. In addition, hard drives, floppy drives, modems, CD-ROM towers, and other items were recycled.
U.S. Postal Service South Florida District
The U.S. Postal Service – South Florida District’s 11,000 employees sought ways to expand its waste prevention, recycling, and buying-recycled programs. An employee education program was established for bulk mail reduction, contributing to the recycling of 937 tons of mixed paper. The South Florida District also recycled 5.8 tons of wooden pallets in 2000. The district recycled 5,787 tons of magazines and undeliverable bulk mail, and more than 583 tons of corrugated boxes. The district also increased its spending on recycled-content products with a total of $35,830 spent in 2000.