1. U.S. Postal Service 2012
sustainability report
Earthscapes: seeing our world in a new way
Photographs taken by NASA satellites and photographers in aircraft

2. 1 Total GHG reported in million metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2
) equivalents (MTCO2
e), energy usage restatements resulted in GHG
emission adjustments.
2 Total facility energy use reported in BTU or British Thermal Units. FY 2010 and FY 2011 were recalculated to reflect standardized
methodology and calculations approaches.
3 Transportation fuel use includes postal-owned, leased and contract fuel use, reported in GGE or Gasoline Gallon Equivalents (see 5 & 6)
4 Postal vehicle petroleum fuel use FY 2005 baseline revised to reflect changes in historical data collection methodology.
5 Solid waste and recycling values recalculated based on methodology and tracking procedure improvements.
6 Contract transportation petroleum fuel use was recalculated to incorporate boundary reporting adjustments to international contract air
service for FY 2010 and FY 2011, which also affected Scope 3 GHG emissions.
7 Refer to “Sustainable Acquisition and Purchasing” to learn more about performance target changes under consideration.
2012 U.S. Postal Service — Key Performance Indicators
Units 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Revenue $ billions $74.93 $68.09 $67.05 $65.71 $65.22
Net profit (loss) $ billions ($2.81) ($3.79) ($8.50) ($5.07) ($15.91)
Mail volume Billion pieces 202.70 176.74 170.86 168.30 159.86
Delivery points Million points 149.19 150.12 150.86 151.49 152.15
Career employees Number of employees 663,238 623,128 581,775 557,251 528,458
Post Offices, plants
and administration
Number of facilities 34,175 33,264 33,620 33,260 32,604
Greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions 1 Million MTCO2
e 13.38 13.03 12.55 12.15 12.06
Facility energy use 2 Trillion BTU 30.7 25.7 25.3 24.2 22.3
Transportation fuel use 3 Million GGE 729.7 720.5 716.5 711.4 726.0
Solid waste recycled 4 Short tons 284,708 214,682 221,655 215,879 253,908
2012 USPS Sustainability Target Snapshot
Focus Objective and Target Baseline FY 2012
Progress (percent
change from Baseline) Status
GHG Emissions
Reduce Scope 1, 2 and 3 GHG
emissions 20% by FY 2020
(million MTCO2
).
13.38
FY 2008
12.06 (9.9%) 
Facility Energy Use
Reduce total facility energy use
30% by FY 2015 (trillion BTU).
33.72
FY 2003
22.30 (33.9 %) 
Transportation Fuel
Reduce total postal-vehicle
petroleum fuel use 20% by FY
2015 (million GGE).
142.27
FY 2005 5 148.83 4.6% 
Reduce total contract
transportation petroleum fuel use
20% by FY 2020 (million GGE).
580.13
FY 2008 6 574.92 (0.9%) 
Increase postal-vehicle alternative
fuel use 10% annually by FY 2015
(million GGE).
0.94
FY 2005
2.26 140.7% 
Solid Waste Diversion-
Recycling
Divert 50% of solid waste from
landfill to recycling by FY 2015.
44%
FY 2008
48% (3.7%) 
Water Reduction
Reduce water use 10% by FY
2015 (million gallons).
5,456
FY 2007
3,375 (38.1 %) 
Reduce Consumables
Reduce spending on
consumables 30% by FY 2020
($million).
508.4
FY 2008
310.9 (38.8 %) 
Environmentally
Preferable Products 7
Report year to year environmental
preferable products purchased
($millions).
$288 million
FY 2011
$295 million
FY 2012
N/A N/A
 Achieving goal  On-target  Off-target

3. The Postal Service is an organization
like no other. We’re in every community
in every state, and we deliver mail to
every address. This gives us a special
responsibility to be good neighbors.
One way we honor this commitment is
through our leadership in sustainability.
Our goal is to provide reliable, affordable
mail delivery with minimal impact on the
environment. We’re making progress.
The Postal Service has cut energy use
more than 30 percent since 2003. Last
year, we recycled several hundred
thousand tons of paper and other material.
We’re also working with other leaders
in our industry to reduce costs and
greenhouse gas emissions.
I’m proud of our success, but the job is far
from done. I hope you’ll read this report
to learn more about our efforts to become
more sustainable and innovative. I also
hope you’ll join us. Let’s work together to
be good neighbors — and good stewards
of our environment.
Patrick R. Donahoe
Postmaster General and
Chief Executive Officer
Postmaster General
Postmaster General

4. Sustainability at the Postal Service begins with a
workforce committed to doing what’s right for the
environment — and for our business. During this
period of fiscal challenges, these efforts are more
important than ever.
We foster sustainable practices through
employee-led “Lean Green” teams that help us
save money by promoting recycling and smart
energy use. Our employees share a commitment
to making our operations more efficient through
better resource management.
In 2012, postal Lean Green teams throughout the
nation helped us become more efficient and save
money by reducing facility energy use, improving
water efficiency, buying fewer supplies and
reducing solid waste. To guide our recycling efforts
locally, we established recycling coordinators in
each of our districts.
Our total greenhouse gas emissions are lower and we
completed our first climate change adaptation plan.
USPS facility energy use continues its downward
trend. Vehicle petroleum fuel use is down from 2011,
but overall progress toward achieving our 20 percent
fuel reduction by 2015 remains elusive due to an
aging fleet and annual growth in the number of
delivery points we serve.
To complement our annual Postmaster General
Sustainability Award, we started a new employee
award program, the GLOBE Award, to recognize
employees who are doing great things for the
environment every day to keep us on the path to
a sustainable future.
As a self-funded federal agency, we continue
to voluntarily align many of our sustainability
stewardship practices to federal executive orders,
because they make business sense and are the right
thing to do. We also continue our commitment to
comply with federal, state and local environmental
laws and regulations. And we have initiated a new
management system to proactively address existing
and emerging environmental compliance issues.
We continue to remind Americans about how our
actions — by postal employees and customers
alike — affect the environment. These reminders
come through our stamps as well. Last year we
presented our Go Green stamps to highlight the
small steps each of us can take to impact the
world around us. This year we proudly present
our Earthscapes Forever stamps, which feature
amazing aerial and satellite photographs of natural,
agricultural and urban landscapes. They are a
reminder that the environment we all share is worth
protecting and that there’s more that the Postal
Service can, and will, do to help.
Thomas G. Day,
Chief Sustainability Officer
Chief Sustainability Officer
Chief Sustainability Officer

5. postal facts
postal facts
From the FY2012 Annual Report to Congress
Fundamental
Universal
Service
Connecting
businesses and
households
everywhere
Core of an
$800 billion dollar
industry with
eight million
employees
Virtually all
revenue now
comes from
customers who
have alternatives
Manages an
adaptable
infrastructure of
high-speed mail
sorting equipment,
logistics networks
and delivery
routes, linked by
sophisticated
information
technology
One of the most
respected
organizations for
privacy and
security (Ponemon
Institute)
Record
performance
across most
service categories
“Most improved”
for customer
satisfaction
(American
Customer
Satisfaction Index)
One of the lowest
rates for postage
in the developed
world
The world’s most
productive postal
service —
reduced costs by
$1.1 billion in
FY 2012
New technologies
connect mail and
the Internet and
let people send
mail from mobile
devices
Successfully
changing to meet
the needs of the
country for
237 years
Critical for
the Economy
Adaptable A Competitive
Business
Secure and
Trusted
Reliable
Efficient
Technologically
Sophisticated
Convenient
More retail
locations than
McDonald’s and
Starbucks
combined.
Sustainable
Working with
colleagues in the
postal industry and
federal sector to
deliver mail at the
lowest cost with
minimal impact to
the environmentA Bargain Customer-
Focused
Relevant
Effective
Builds
relationships,
helps customers
do jobs important
to them, and
supplements
other channels

6. about this report
This report reviews our sustainability efforts and
performance over the past year. The performance
snapshot on the inside front cover summarizes
key indicators and progress toward our targets.
The statements from the Postmaster General
and Chief Sustainability Officer provide our
leadership’s perspective.
Our Corporate Highlights section reviews key
programs, initiative recognition awards and
sustainability-focused events during 2012. For a
more in-depth review of our corporate sustainability
performance targets and practices, please take a
look at our Environmental Stewardship, Services
and Products and Sustainable Acquisition and
Purchasing sections. Finally, our People and
Community section spotlights some of our
employees, our community engagement activities
and our corporate social responsibility efforts.
Our 2012 sustainability report can be reviewed
online at usps.com/green. You can also follow us on
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Our website provides additional content and features
to explore. To learn more about our business
plans for 2012 and our financial performance, we
encourage you to a look at our Annual Report to
Congress and Comprehensive Statement on Postal
Operations at http://about.usps.com.
We continue to improve the quality and
transparency of our performance tracking. For
this reason, reviewing our data is a year-round
process. The Postal Service calculates performance
indicators using information reported through
internal databases or by estimation protocols. Data
restatements or clarifications are footnoted on the
inside front cover.
In 2012, we restated our transportation fuel, solid
waste and recycling and facility energy performance
indicators to reflect an improved understanding
of our data and standardized estimation
methodologies between reporting years.
We also adjusted our alternative fuel use target to
align with Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
guidelines. The restatements did not significantly
alter previously reported data or affect their overall
performance trend.
For this report we elected to temporarily defer
including some of our environmentally preferable
product (EPP) purchasing data while some
enhancements to our tracking capabilities
are completed. Read more in our Sustainable
Acquisition and Purchasing section.
Global Reporting Initiative
The Global Reporting Initiative is a leading
international reporting protocol. Our report
follows the GRI protocol to offer consistency and
transparency with the most widely recognized
reporting standard for public sustainability
performance disclosure. As the world’s largest
post, we have a unique responsibility to participate.
USPS is the only federal agency to consistently
report within the GRI framework annually. Our 2012
GRI content index is provided on our website at
http://usps.com/green. We follow version 3.0 of the
GRI sustainability guidelines. Learn more about GRI
reporting at https://www.globalreporting.org.
about this report

7. contents
contents
Corporate highlights
Environmental stewardship
Carbon footprint — GHG emissions
Energy conservation and management
Fleet and transportation management
Waste reduction and recycling
Water conservation and management
Environmental management and regulatory compliance
Services and products
Sustainable acquisition and purchasing
People and community
2
8
8
12
14
19
21
22
24
28
30
On the cover: Inland marsh stamp: A shallow creek winds
through Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland’s
Eastern Shore. Rich tidal marsh makes up much of the refuge’s
more than 25,000 acres, forming a haven for fox squirrels
and bald eagles and a stopping-off point for ducks and geese
migrating along the Atlantic Flyway. The photograph was taken
by Cameron Davidson.

8. corporate highlights
Earthscapes Forever stamps
Earthscapes Forever stamps continue the
Postal Service tradition of portraying our
nation’s environment on stamps. These stamps
communicate America’s diverse landscapes in a
whole new way.
Spectacular photography from several hundred feet
to hundreds of miles above the Earth depict three
categories of Earthscape environments: natural,
agricultural and urban settings.
The shots from extremely high altitudes were taken
from NASA’s fleet of satellites used to study the
earth, to better understand our changing climate, its
interaction with life, and how human activities affect
the environment.
The stamps provide a window into our world from
a viewpoint most of us never see. Natural features
illustrate America’s wilderness, from Washington’s
Mount St. Helens volcano, Utah’s Monument Valley,
an Alaskan glacier, Yellowstone’s geothermal
spring, to Maryland’s tidal marsh.
Abstract agricultural images capture products
being gathered, grown, or harvested, such as
salt in California, a timber raft in Idaho, Kansas
cropland patterns, a Michigan cherry orchard and a
Massachusetts cranberry bog.
Urban life takes center stage with Miami’s
intricate highway crossroads, Nevada’s Clark
County subdivisions, Manhattan cityscapes and
Pennsylvania’s Steamtown national historic site.
“Once you’ve seen the world from above, you never
look at it quite the same way again,” said U.S.
Postal Service Chief Financial Officer Joe Corbett at
the stamps’ dedication at NASA’s Goddard Space
Flight Center. “These Earthscapes stamps invite us
to take a bird’s eye view of the land we all share.”
2 corporate highlights
Please turn to page 36 to see a large image of the entire
Earthscape stamp collection.

9. January 2012 OMB scorecard in sustainability/energy
In 2012 Federal agencies were issued sustainability scorecards by the federal Office of Management and
Budget (OMB). The Postal Service scorecard 2011 results are shown below.
Key: Green=success, red=unsatisfactory.
January 2012 OMB Scorecard on Sustainability/Energy
Scope1&2GHGEmissionReductionTarget
ForScope1&2GHGReductionTargetof20%by2020:
11.1%reductionin2011andontrack
Scope3GHGEmissionReductionTarget
ForScope3GHGReductionTargetof20%by2020:
5%reductionin2011andontrack
ReductioninEnergyIntensity
Reductioninenergyintensityingoal-subjectfacilitiescomparedwith2003:
22.4%andontrackfor30%by2015
ReductioninPotableWaterIntensity
Reductioninpotablewaterintensitycomparedwith2007:
18.5%andontrackfor26%in2020
ReductioninFleetPetroleumUse
6.4% increase andnotontrack
Score: GREEN
Score: GREEN
Score: GREEN
Score: GREEN
Score: RED
Cranberry harvest — A Massachusetts cranberry bog
holds a bounty of ripe red fruit. During the fall harvest,
growers flood bogs, then mechanically churn the water
to dislodge cranberries from their low-lying vines. They
round up the floating fruit with booms, and convey it to
receiving stations for cleaning. Photo by Steve Dunwell.

10. 4 corporate highlights
USPS releases federal sustainability and
energy performance scorecard
The Postal Service released its Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) sustainability and
energy scorecard in 2012. The OMB scorecard is
a reporting system required by Federal Executive
Order 13514 for federal agencies to publicly
report their progress toward established federal
sustainability goals.
As a self-funded federal agency the Postal Service
continues to voluntarily align many specific
objectives to follow the federal goals including the
OMB Scorecard.
The Postal Service is committed to being a
sustainability leader and our scorecard results
demonstrate progress toward our sustainability goals.
USPS BlueEarth™ Product Carbon
Accounting Service launched
Our USPS BlueEarth Product Carbon Accounting
Service was made available during 2012 for
business customers to measure and manage carbon
impacts across their supply chains. This proprietary
innovation follows the most widely accepted
GHG accounting methods to calculate a shipping
or mailing item’s GHG emissions based on its
characteristics, such as product type, size, weight,
processing, distribution and transportation. This “no
fee” service provides our business customers with
monthly, quarterly and annual reports.
Carbonfund.org Foundation has reviewed the
methodology used for the USPS BlueEarth
Carbon Accounting Statement and determined
it is consistent with the carbon neutrality criteria
for eligibility in the Carbonfund.org Carbonfree®
Shipping program. USPS business customers
interested in offsetting emissions created by mailing
or shipping can purchase carbon credits using
official calculation results from the USPS BlueEarth
Carbon Accounting Statement.
Carbonfund.org is the country’s leading carbon
reduction and offset organization. Carbonfund.‌org
educates the public about climate change and
makes it easy and affordable for individuals,
businesses and organizations to reduce their climate
impact. Learn more at http://carbonfund.org.
Volcanic crater — Mount
St. Helens and its
surrounding area continue
to recover from the
explosive eruption of May
1980. Shades of white
and gray indicate still-bare
slopes; dark “rivers” are
deep channels cut by
fast-moving flows of hot
ash, rock, and gas. Green
represents regrowth of
vegetation. The image
was captured by NASA’s
Landsat 7 satellite.

11. corporate highlights 5
Blue and Brown make green —
Postal Service and UPS team up
Our goal is to reduce the total GHG emissions of the
Postal Service, which includes not only our vehicles,
but the emissions of our contract partners, such
as UPS. In a video address to a global audience,
Postmaster General Pat Donahoe and UPS Chief
Executive Officer Scott Davis announced a unique
partnership designed to help both organizations run
more efficiently and provide greater transparency
and accuracy in GHG accounting. Through this
partnership, both organizations share GHG data and
help each other achieve operational and sustainability
goals, reducing the costs and carbon footprint of
both networks to provide better service to customers.
How does it work? The Postal Service delivers
many UPS packages using our “last mile” network,
and UPS carries many USPS letters and packages
using their extensive air and ground transportation
networks. This partnership started from financial
considerations — but now we are observing how
the partnership also can improve sustainability
performance across each organization’s supply
chain. Sharing data lets us provide more accurate
accounting for our customers using the USPS
BlueEarth Product Carbon Accounting Service.
“By working together, the Postal Service and UPS
are able to reduce costs, serve our customers better
and achieve sustainability goals, such as reducing
our carbon footprints,” said Donahoe. “The world is
changing dramatically as we become a more global
economy and it takes big ideas and bold moves to
keep up,” said Davis. “This collaboration to reduce
the carbon footprint of our respective supply chains
is the sustainability wave of the future.”
Donahoe and Davis note that while the Postal
Service and UPS are keen competitors, they also
are each other’s customers. “It’s a great template
for how posts and private enterprises can work
together to better serve customers, the planet and
the bottom line,” said Donahoe.
“We hope our partnership can serve as a model for
others to work together in new ways, whether they
are competitors, collaborators, customers or all the
above,” Donahoe added. (Learn more in our Carbon
footprint — GHG emissions section.)
PMG Pat Donahoe and UPS CEO Scott Davis

12. 6 corporate highlights
Postal Service hosts green events
nationwide during 2012
Post Office employees volunteer their time and lead
the way across our nation. The Los Angeles, CA,
Main Post Office hosted a document shredding
and recycling event. The public brought their paper
documents to the event for secure shredding and
recycling. The effort provided a security service
for those who didn’t have access to shredders
and resulted in an entire truckload of shredded
recyclable paper.
The Cambridge, MA, Post Office sponsored a
document shredding event with the City of Cambridge
that attracted coverage from the New York Times
“The Post Office and the City of Cambridge have
been holding ‘shred your document days’ twice
a year. They have been very well received,” said
Postmaster Kathy Lydon. Cambridge residents
disposed of more than two tons of documents, which
were securely shredded and recycled.
The Everett, WA, Post Office hosted a document
shredding and electronics recycling event that
allowed free recycling of computers, monitors, TVs
and laptops. The event collected over four tons of
documents and used electronics. The event was
offered at no cost to the public using a certified
“responsible recycler” for electronics take-back.
In Fall 2012, the Postal Service participated in a
customer outreach activity at The Green Festival in
Washington, DC. The event featured workshops, food
tastings, speakers and products devoted to living a
green lifestyle. Many attendees heard about the Postal
Service’s long-time efforts to help the environment.
2012 GreenGov Presidential award given
to postal employee
Dianne Shoaf of the USPS Office of Sustainability
received the White House Council on Environmental
Quality 2012 GreenGov Presidential Award for leading
the Postal Service’s Lean Green team initiative.
The award honors federal agency teams and
individuals who coordinate innovative approaches
to curbing waste, reducing energy and water use
and saving money in operations. Shoaf engaged
postal employees in the practical implementation of
low- and no-cost “Green Team” projects across the
country, a key USPS strategy focus area.
EPA Wastewise recognition award given
to USPS
In 2012, the USPS Western Area received its third
consecutive “Wastewise” Federal Government
Partner of the Year award from the Environmental
Protection Agency at the Intermountain
Sustainability Summit Luncheon in Ogden, UT.
In accepting the award, Environmental Compliance/
Risk Mitigation Specialist Jerry Jensen described
how the Postal Service is leaving a green footprint —
citing our lobby mail recycling, mixed paper
backhauling, cardboard and plastic recycling, and
environmentally responsible packaging and energy
reduction initiatives. “We’re working hard to reduce
our impact on the environment,” said Jensen.
At the Everett, WA, Post Office, vendors arrive for document
shredding and electronic waste collection event.
From left, USPS Chief Sustainability Officer Tom Day, USPS
Sustainability Project Integration Specialist Dianne Shoaf,
White House Council on Environmental Quality Chair Nancy
Sutley and Christopher Lu, Cabinet Secretary and co-chair
of the Executive Office of the President.

13. corporate highlights 7
Federal Green Challenge — USPS sets
the bar
The Postal Service is the first federal agency to sign
up on a nationwide basis for the Federal Green
Challenge, a new national initiative under EPA’s
Sustainable Materials Management Program.
The Federal Green Challenge encourages federal
agencies throughout the country to lead by example
in reducing their environmental impact. Federal
offices participate by focusing on two of these
six areas: waste, electronics, purchasing, energy,
water and transportation. Participating agencies
commit to a 5 percent improvement in their areas of
focus each year and to reporting on their progress
annually. You can learn more about the Federal
Green Challenge at http://www.epa.gov/fgc/.
GLOBE recognition award program
established
In 2012, a new recognition offering, the GLOBE
award, was established to complement our annual
Postmaster General Sustainability Award. GLOBE
award recipients are announced on a quarterly basis
and are sponsored by the Office of Sustainability.
Chief Sustainability Officer
Tom Day said the GLOBE
award provides more
frequent recognition to
individuals and teams who
have contributed to a more
sustainable workplace.
“We have employees
taking on our sustainability
challenges every day,
and it’s important that we
recognize their efforts.”
To be eligible for the GLOBE award, nominees
complete an activity in designated categories
such as energy and water conservation, pollution
prevention, recycling or green leadership.
Post Office Operations Manager Toni Fossett was
one of our first GLOBE award recipients in 2012 for
her work in establishing Green Teams. “The Postal
Service can become a better organization by going
green,” said Fossett. “Our employees have taken on
the Green Team challenge. I am proud of how well
they’re doing.”
Recycle small electronics through the
mail — with new cash-back feature
USPS has an arrangement with MaxBack®, which
offers cash back for small electronics, with free
postage-paid return shipping. Cell phones, limited
types of mp3 players and tablets are included in the
mail-back program.
“Leveraging our network in new ways and providing
more environmentally friendly products and services
are a key focus area for our reverse logistics
working group,” said Tim Gerling, acting USPS
manager, New Business Opportunities. Learn more
online at: https://www.usps.com/ship/recycle-
through-usps.htm.
Post Office lobby displays provide information on a small
electronics cash-back program—through the mail.
Post Office Operations
Manager Toni Fossett, a
GLOBE Award recipient.

14. Environmental stewardship means taking
responsibility. USPS has committed to environmental
stewardship and integrating sustainability practices
over time. We have established corporate targets
and reduction strategies for greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions, energy, transportation fuel use, waste
reduction and water conservation.
We also have established environmental
management and regulatory compliance practices
to reduce risks to the environment and our
business. Our Environmental stewardship section
reviews progress and strategies toward achieving
these targets. We continuously track and monitor
progress and we are committed to evaluating new
opportunities and initiatives.
National environmental assessment
The Postal Service has reviewed many options
over the last several years to re-align our network
due to our reduced mail volumes. These changes
were evaluated under the National Environmental
Policy Act, which requires all federal agencies to
implement policy goals to protect, maintain and
enhance the environment. Nearly 115 site-specific
analyses were completed, including evaluations of
approximately 230 different scenarios.
The findings showed “no significant national
impacts” from our network re-alignment plans — in
fact, the assessment found re-alignment would also
reduce the carbon footprint of our operations.
Carbon footprint:
GHG emissions
USPS generates greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
from facility energy use, transportation fuel
use, waste generation, employee commuting,
contracted transportation services, and other
sources. Our target is to reduce GHG emissions by
20 percent by FY 2020.
We track GHG Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions
towards established performance targets. Scope 1
GHG emissions include postal-owned sources such
as fossil fuels used in our facilities and vehicle fleet.
Scope 2 GHG emissions include supplied electricity
or steam produced outside of our organizational
boundry. Scope 3 includes other indirect sources
such as contracted transportation, leased facilities,
employee commuting and business travel.
We maintain a GHG inventory, which enables us to
make better decisions about energy use and other
sustainability issues. Customers benefit as well, as
our GHG data collection and inventory programs
support our USPS BlueEarthTM Product Carbon
Accounting Service.
We prepare an annual GHG emissions inventory in
compliance with several protocols:
ƒƒ Executive Order 13514 —Federal Leadership
in Environmental, Energy, and Economic
Performance, along with our federal peers.
ƒƒ The International Postal Corporation (IPC)
Environmental Measurement and Management
System with our postal peers.
ƒƒ The Climate Registry, a North American
nonprofit that sets standards for GHG reporting
in a single registry of private and public entities.
environmental stewardship
8 environmental stewardship

15. Salt evaporation ponds — Salt is harvested from
seawater in evaporation ponds near San Francisco,
California. As natural evaporation occurs, salinity levels
increase and the concentrations of algae and other
microorganisms in the water change, causing the ponds
to take on vivid colors. Photo by Barrie Rokeach.
(baseline)
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2020TARGET
5.29
5.03
4.89
4.62
4.27
8.09
8.01
7.66
7.53
7.79
13.38
13.04
12.55
12.15
12.06
Total greenhouse gas emissions
Million metric tons of CO2 equivalents
 Scope 1 & 2  Scope 3
What are carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalents?
The CO2 equivalent is a metric used to report total GHG
emissions in terms of CO2. Emissions from non-CO2 GHGs
are compared to CO2 based on their global warming
potential (GWP), with CO2 having a GWP of 1. Learn more
about CO2 at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) website: http://www.epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-
resources/calculator.html.
FY 2012 total GHG emissions by major
source category
Total GHG emissions from all sources totaled 12.06 million
MTCO2e in FY 2012.
Other 4%
Contracted
transportation 44%
Commuting
17%
Postal
transportation
fuel 11%
Facility
energy 24%
9.9% decrease ­— GHG emissions since 2008
Target: Reduce GHG emissions 20% by FY 2020 from
FY 2008 baseline (Scope 1, 2 and 3).
Progress: Total GHG emissions decreased by 9.9% or by
almost 1.3 million* metric tons from the FY 2008 baseline
to FY 2012.
*Nearly equal to removing 270,000 passenger vehicles
from the road for a year.

16. Why track greenhouse gases?
The global warming observed over the past 50 years is due primarily to human-induced emissions of heat-trapping
gases. These emissions come mainly from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), with other important
contributions coming from clearing forests, agricultural practices, and other activities. (Executive Summary, second
National Climate Assessment, www.globalchange.gov)
Fossil fuel use adds greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane to the atmosphere. The earth’s
carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere has varied over time. Air bubbles in Antarctic ice core samples
indicate that over the last 800,000 years, levels of carbon dioxide have ranged between 170 to 300 parts per
million (ppm). With industrialization in the last century, carbon dioxide levels have rapidly increased from 280 ppm
to 394 ppm, as recorded at the Mauna Loa station in Hawaii. This rapid rise in carbon dioxide, primarily due to
human activity, amplifies the natural greenhouse effect impacting climate change.
Many organizations measure their contribution of carbon dioxide and other GHGs and look for ways to reduce or
offset them.
Graphic adapted from the U.S. Global Change Research Program’s Global Change Impacts in the United States
(2009) report, and excludes emission scenario projections and represents the 2012 atmospheric concentration
from the Mauna Loa station, http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/. See the original graphic at: http://
nca2009.globalchange.gov/global-climate-change.
10 environmental stewardship

17. environmental stewardship 11
Climate change mitigation and
adaptation
Understanding and reducing our carbon footprint
is part of climate change mitigation, but we are
learning to adapt as well. In FY 2012, we completed
our first climate change adaptation plan. This plan
will help us identify where USPS is vulnerable to
climate change — and how we can avoid and
minimize disruptions in mail service.
For the Postal Service, climate change adaptation
planning is a form of risk management. The impacts
of climate change could burden or disrupt our ability
to provide mail service due to factors including
an increase in frequency, intensity, and duration
of extreme weather events, increased flooding
driven by storms and rising sea levels, changes in
temperature, precipitation and drought patterns, and
stress on the Nation’s transportation infrastructure.
In the years ahead, USPS will be shaped by
transformative forces, including economic,
environmental, societal and technological shifts.
We deliver to every community in America,
touching the lives of millions of citizens. Therefore,
planning and preparing for potential disruptions to
mail service is part our mission. You can read our
plan at: http://origin-about.usps.com/what-we-are-
doing/green/climatechange.htm.
Annual employee commuter survey — GHG emission
inventory
Understanding how employees get to work is part of
determining our carbon footprint. Each year the Postal
Service conducts a survey to
gather data on our employees’
modes of transportation and
distances traveled to work.
The choices include walking,
bicycling, carpooling, driving
solo, public transportation,
even riding a ferry boat.
Chief Sustainability Officer
Tom Day noted, “This survey
gives employees a unique
opportunity to contribute to
the Postal Service’s efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions. We can’t reduce
what we can’t measure.” The
commuter survey is also used
to compare USPS commuting
patterns with other federal agencies.
A solitary mailbox is next to an outside stairway separated
from a residence after Hurricane Sandy. Disasters like
Hurricane Sandy show us the potential damage from
extreme weather driven by climate change.
Residential subdivision —
Suburbia in Clark
County, NV — the
state’s most populous
county — provides a
maze of pavement,
sidewalks, and single-
family homes. In this
desert development,
swimming pools and
clumps of trees provide
some relief from the heat
of summer.

18. 12 environmental stewardship
Energy conservation and
management
With more than 32,000 buildings nationwide, our vast
facility network requires a lot of energy to support
mail processing equipment, vehicle maintenance,
information technology, appliances, and heating and
cooling for employees and customers.
In 2012, we continued making new energy
improvement investments while maintaining gains
achieved in prior years. Our actions and results
demonstrate our continued commitment toward
energy reduction.
We consumed 22 trillion BTU in FY 2012 — about
the same amount of energy used by 215,000 U.S.
households in a year. Using trillions of BTU means
large energy costs — $523 million in FY 2012. So
energy has a significant impact on our finances and
is a potential savings opportunity for us.
We have two energy targets: reduce total facility
energy use and energy intensity (use per square
foot) by 30 percent. As a self-funded federal agency,
we must watch the bottom line, just as any other
business does. Our investments in energy efficiency
projects and data collection tools have saved money
and reduced our environmental footprint.
In 2012, our total facility energy use decreased
34 percent, and our energy intensity decreased
32 percent compared to 2003.
National energy management plan
In 2012, we launched an initiative to update our
national energy management strategy to match
the evolving financial and strategic direction of the
Postal Service.
Our approach is to evaluate new technology,
incorporate energy efficiency into new equipment
assessments and investigate equipment-specific
energy use.
By integrating key technologies into facility energy
opportunities, along with promoting employee
energy awareness, we will continue to drive a
conservation culture throughout the organization.
(baseline)
0 10 20 30 40
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2015TARGET
33.7
37.3
30.7
25.7
24.2
34.6
36.4
30.1
25.3
22.3
Total facility energy use
Trillion BTUs
What is a BTU?
A BTU or British Thermal Unit is a standardized measure
of energy based on the heating properties of the fuel. This
includes heating fuels and electricity.
34% decrease ­— facility energy use since
2003
Targets: Reduce total facility energy consumption (BTU)
and energy-use intensity (BTU/sf) 30% by FY 2015 from
FY 2003 baseline.
Progress: Total facility energy consumption (BTU)
decreased 34% or more than 11 trillion BTU from FY 2003
baseline to FY 2012.
Facility energy use intensity (BTU/SF) decreased by 32%
since FY 2003.
This is nearly equal to reducing the amount of energy
consumed by 100,000 U.S. households.

19. environmental stewardship 13
Measurement and reporting
In FY 2012, USPS worked to improve and expand
our energy data collection and measurement tools,
helping us reduce our energy use to meet our goals
and comply with the 2007 Energy Independence
and Security Act.
Our Utility Management System (UMS) consists
of more than 5,600 facilities. UMS collects energy
information directly from participating utilities and
provides accurate energy cost and consumption
information on demand. It also feeds into our
Enterprise Energy Management System (EEMS).
For EEMS, 2012 was a year of significant progress.
The Postal Service uses this application to measure
and verify energy performance, monitor and report
savings and identify opportunities for improvement.
USPS now has detailed historical cost and
consumption data for approximately 10,000
facilities. Real-time monitoring data are available for
several pilot sites.
Improving transparency in our data collection
systems allows us to better understand energy
consumption trends.
In the past year, we identified energy consumption
estimation procedures that were inconsistent over
time. We streamlined and standardized energy
calculation methodologies and restated FY 2010
and FY 2011 energy performance data. The result is
a more accurate representation of our performance.
Utility rebates
Many utilities offer energy efficiency rebates because
lower demands for energy help them avoid costly
infrastructure expansions. In 2012, the Postal
Service received $1.9 million in utility rebates for
energy improvement efforts. These incentives benefit
the utility, the environment and the Postal Service —
resulting in reduced costs and improved buildings.
Taking action on energy
USPS hosts Energy Action Month every October to
provide information to employees on how they can
reduce energy use. For 2012, Deputy Postmaster
General Ronald Stroman and Chief Sustainability
Officer Tom Day appeared in a video on energy
savings. The video was distributed through the
Postal Service’s television network. For the first time
in the history of Energy Action Month, USPS issued
a postage cancellation to encourage Americans to
save energy in the month of October.
Denver Network Distribution Center (NDC) — energy audit
The power of an energy audit is in the savings that result. A
facility energy audit identified potential annual savings of up
to 26 billion BTU and utility savings of more than $292,000 at
the 450,000 square-foot Denver NDC.
The project included installation of energy efficient lighting,
thermostat resets, HVAC control system upgrades and
removal of old automation equipment.
The results were better than predicted. The Denver NDC was
able to reduce energy costs $425,000 and save 33 billion
BTU. These savings are equivalent to the annual energy use
of over 300 households!
Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman

20. 14 environmental stewardship
Fleet and transportation
management
Our mission is to provide delivery service that
connects the nation. When choosing modes of
transportation, we give the highest consideration
to prompt and economical service. To meet this
commitment, USPS operates one of the largest
civilian vehicle fleets in the country. We move mail
by foot, bicycle, car, truck, train, airplane, ship, and,
for the Grand Canyon, by mule.
The Postal Service does not pass on fuel
surcharges to customers, which means volatile fuel
prices are a large, unpredictable cost that can affect
affordable mail service. That’s why we track fuel use
closely and always look to find greater efficiencies
with our fleet.
Total use of petroleum fuel increased over the last
five years, mainly due to continued growth in new
city and rural delivery points. We have established
fuel-use targets for postal-owned vehicles and
contract transportation fleet partners, and track their
use. The challenge in reducing fuel use is that even
as mail piece volumes continue to decline, the total
number of delivery points (locations where mail must
be delivered) is increasing.
To service our delivery points, the Postal Service
has a defined nationwide delivery route system.
In FY 2012, we added 690,000 new city and rural
delivery points, while reducing total delivery routes
by 1,161. How does the Postal Service increase
service, while at the same time decrease the number
of delivery routes? By making our delivery network
more efficient and using tools such as carrier optimal
routing (COR).
This software tool helps the Postal Service eliminate
redundant vehicle travel paths, unnecessary stops
and starts, and encourages right-hand turns.
COR uses a set of algorithmic formulas based on
local delivery route inspections. These efficiencies
are essential to lowering fuel consumption and
improving our fiscal outlook now and into the future.
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008 581.4
573.2
568.8
556.7
574.9 151.1
154.7
147.8
147.4
148.3
726.0
711.4
716.5
720.5
729.7
Total vehicle fuel use
Million gasoline gallon equivalent (GGEs)
 Contract & GSA leased transport  Postal-owned
4.6% increase ­— postal vehicle fleet fuel use
since 2005
Target: Reduce postal vehicle petroleum use 20 percent
by FY 2015 from FY 2005 baseline.
Progress: Postal-owned vehicle total petroleum use
increased 4.6 percent from FY 2005 baseline to FY 2012
and decreased slightly from FY 2011 to FY 2012.
In FY 2012, nearly 690,000 city and rural delivery points
were added to our network.
0.9% decrease ­— contract transportation fuel
use since 2008
Target: Reduce contract transportation petroleum fuel
use 20% by FY 2020 from FY 2008 baseline.
Progress: Contract transportation petroleum use
decreased 0.9 percent from the FY 2008 baseline to
FY 2012 and increased from FY 2011 to FY 2012.
Our contract air transportation mail-carrying service was a
major contributor to the increase in contract transportation
in the last year.

21. environmental stewardship 15
In 2012, USPS developed and distributed fuel conservation kits to field offices. The kits contained a
fuel conservation video, poster and memo from Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman.
The Atlanta District established a team to evaluate delivery routes for more than 40 offices with impressive results.
Since 2011, the district has reduced vehicle mileage by 850 miles a day, saving 17,000 gallons of fuel a year
and $50,000 in fuel costs. “By eliminating vacant routes and optimizing lines of travel, we were able to reduce
our daily miles traveled,” said Rural Route Reduction Project Lead Timothy Benton.

22. 16 environmental stewardship
Postal-owned vehicle fleet and contract
transportation service
The postal-owned fleet of 212,530 vehicles
decreased by 1,351 vehicles in 2012. Letter carriers
and truck drivers logged almost 1.3 billion total miles.
The long-life vehicle (LLV) continues to be the
workhorse of our fleet. While most LLVs are
between 18 and 25 years old — and the expected
service life of an LLV is 24 years — we’ve extended
their life cycle through a robust preventative
maintenance and repair program.
Contract transportation provides regional network
service — and often travel longer distances than
postal-owned vehicles. Also included are our rural
routes, for which USPS reimburses employees who
use their own vehicles. Contract transportation
services move mail by truck, airplane, ship and
rail — and were responsible for 80 percent of our
total petroleum fuel consumption in 2012.
Alternative fuel vehicles
USPS has a long-established alternative fuel
vehicle program, with the goal of using increasingly
more alternative fuels. We are on track to increase
alternative fuel use 10 percent annually (for an end
target of 159 percent from FY 2005). In FY 2012,
the Postal Service used 2.3 million GGEs of
alternative fuel.
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires USPS to
report its efforts to utilize alternative fuels to the
Department of Energy annually.
The Postal Service continues to take proactive steps
to increase the use of alternative fuel. Most of our
fuel comes from commercially available sources.
In many cases, obtaining alternative fuel requires
USPS to travel further from our routes. Providing
affordable delivery service requires our use of
alternate fuels that are conveniently available and
competitively priced.
What is a GGE? Gasoline gallon equivalent (or GGE) is defined as the energy content of any motor fuel, including
alternative fuels, to that of a gallon of gasoline. This allows us to compare different fuels, such as ethanol use, to gasoline.
Learn more about fuel reduction and GGE from the U.S. Department of Energy: http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc.
*USPS updated its mileage reporting system in FY 2012, which led to some data anomalies. This 2012 value is the
extrapolated estimate from average monthly mileage.
Postal-owned fleet by the numbers
Year Vehicle fleet size
Total miles traveled
(billions)
Total petroleum
consumption (in GGE)
Total rural and city delivery
points (millions)
2008 221,047 1.27 146.9 126.38
2009 218,687 1.25 145.5 127.38
2010 215,625 1.26 145.6 128.08
2011 213,881 1.29 152.6 128.82
2012 212,530 1.28* 148.8 129.51

23. environmental stewardship 17
Million Gasoline Gallon Equivalent (GGEs)
(baseline)
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2015TARGET
0.9
0.7
0.8
1.5
2.0
2.1
2.2
2.3
Alternative fuel use
Our alternate fuel fleet provides a diversified vehicle mix, with
ethanol flex fuel (E85) vehicles being the largest component
of our fleet. Other alternative fuel vehicles in our fleet consist
of compressed natural gas (CNG), electric hybrids and
propane. We continue to test many others.
2012 alternative fuel-capable vehicle fleet snapshot
Ethanol (E85)/gasoline 40,733
Compressed natural gas (CNG) 497
Electric 43
Propane 31
Conventional hybrid 914
Total AFV 2012 42,218
Texas Post Offices expand CNG vehicles
Texas leads the way in our compressed natural gas
(CNG) vehicle deployment. Locations in Corpus Christie
and Austin are using CNG. North East Station in Austin
has had 30 CNG vehicles operating for over a year. The
Corpus Christi Post Office has almost doubled the number
of CNG-powered vehicles to 80 over the past two years.
Conversion to CNG has reduced monthly fuel costs by
almost 80 percent, with the added benefit of convenient on-
site CNG hookups that save fueling time.
Corpus Christi Postmaster Cathy Polderman, Vehicle
Manager Raymond McCloskey, letter carriers, and city
officials all worked to increase the number of CNG-powered
vehicles in the community. City of Corpus Christi Gas
Operations Director Debra Marroquin said, “The Postal
Service’s use of CNG is setting an example for other local
businesses to follow.”
New technology is transforming U.S. domestic natural gas
markets. More investments in natural gas-powered vehicles
may be a wave of the future.
Letter Carrier Arnold Reyna fills up with CNG at the Corpus
Christie Post Office.
141% increase ­— postal-owned alternative
fuel use since FY 2005
Target: Increase total alternative fuel use 159 percent from
an FY 2005 baseline (10 percent annually) by FY 2015.
Progress: Total alternative fuel use increased 141 percent
from an FY 2005 baseline to FY 2012.
Alternative fuel use has more than doubled since 2005.
We’ve adjusted our alternative fuel consumption target to
align with OMB’s target criteria — from 100% to 159%.

24. 18 environmental stewardship
Vehicle testing — technology rundown
The Postal Service has been a pioneer in adapting to new transportation technologies. This long history
continues. We know investments in vehicle technology must continue even during difficult times because our
business depends on it. Here are highlights of some recent vehicle tests.
Fuel-cell vehicle. A partnership between U.S. Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering
Center and the Postal Service began in January 2012 to test GM Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles in Kailua, HI, near
Honolulu. The vehicle has been delivering mail since February 2012. The converted Chevy Equinox hydrogen
fuel-cell vehicle travels up to 200 miles on a single charge and can refuel in five minutes. This collaborative
research project may help determine the long-term viability of fuel cell technology.
Hydrogen fuel cell test vehicle
Electric two-ton vehicles. We continue to test our 10 Navistar eStar two-ton electric step vans that deployed
last year. Rated for up to 100 miles on a charge, the vehicle can be fully recharged in 6 to 8 hours. Field tests
continue in Los Angeles, CA; Manhattan, NY; and Fairfax, VA.
Repowering LLVs. Last year the Postal Service awarded contracts to repower LLV drive trains to both suppliers
of gasoline and diesel repowered drive-train technology. The more fuel efficient gasoline repowered LLV was
deployed in May of 2012 and the diesel repowered LLV was deployed in December 2012. Both vehicles are
operating on mail delivery routes in Northern Virginia.
Electric LLVs. Field testing was initiated last year after extensive testing with the Department of Energy. The
project consisted of retrofitting five gasoline-powered LLVs with electric drive trains. Each vehicle was converted
with distinct technology by five separate electric vehicle suppliers to test performance. All five electric vehicles are
being evaluated on mail delivery routes in Washington, DC.

25. environmental stewardship 19
Waste reduction and
recycling
Our waste reduction and recycling efforts continue
to be an important part of our sustainability
practices. Recycling reduces energy and water
consumption, decreases emission and carbon
pollution and helps conserve natural resources.
In FY 2012, we recycled more than 253,000
tons of material — compared to 215,000 tons in
FY 2011 — and diverted about 48 percent of our
solid waste. Our target is to divert 50 percent of our
solid waste from landfill to recycling by FY 2015.
We are currently on track with our target. We have
a business case for implementing waste reduction
and recycling practices and are committed to
continue building on these efforts.
Culture change — current national
trends in mail recycling
Campaigns to encourage mail recycling have been
met with growing success. With almost 90 percent
of communities in the U.S. providing some type of
recycling, Americans are recycling more mail.
According to the EPA, the recycling recovery
rate for standard mail (advertising or direct
mail) from 1990 through 2008 increased from
5.2 percent to 40.7 percent. By 2009, the latest
year for EPA data, the recovery rate had jumped
to 63.4 percent, reflecting a nationwide awareness
of the recyclability of mail. More needs to be done,
but attitudes are changing.
Americans are increasingly aware of their
responsibility to reuse and recycle their waste
paper, including mail.
Waste reduction — minimizing
undeliverable-as-addressed mail in
our network
Reducing the amount of undeliverable mail that
enters the mail stream avoids waste and resources.
The Postal Service established the “Move Update”
standard in 2008, requiring mailers to update
their mailing lists more frequently to minimize
undeliverable mail.
Since the standard was enacted, we have
developed better tracking mechanisms to measure
undeliverable mail, which allows us to better analyze
compliance with Move Update. This information
also helps us understand root causes and
enables development of new strategies to reduce
undeliverable pieces from entering our network.
Recycling — solid waste diversion
Recycling undeliverable mail, and cardboard and
plastics reduces waste disposal costs and our carbon
footprint. We leverage our transportation network by
using return trips from Post Office mail runs to deliver
materials to hub processing centers, where we sell
them to recyclers and avoid landfill disposal costs.
In FY 2012, we recycled 186,000 tons of mixed
paper, 35,000 tons of cardboard, 6,000 tons of
plastic, 4,000 tons of scrap metal and 19,000 tons
of other commodities, resulting in $23.8 million in
recycling revenue. The landfill disposal cost avoidance
is estimated at $25.7 million. We also encouraged
customers to recycle through our “read, respond and
recycle” mail lobby campaign, by asking them to discard
unwanted mail in Post Office lobby recycling bins,
instead of our trash cans.
On Nov. 15, 2012, America Recycles Day, USPS
distributed a national bulletin to employees about
how to start and increase recycling efforts in their
facilities (Learn more about America Recycles Day at
http://americarecyclesday.org.) We included an online
pledge form for employees to commit to recycling
goals. We also used our agency-wide commitment
to the Federal Green Challenge to promote waste
reduction and recycling at our Post Offices.
48% diverted — solid waste diversion rate —
recycling in 2012
Target: Divert solid waste sent to landfill 50 percent by
FY 2015 from FY 2008 baseline.
Progress: Recycling diversion rate was 48 percent in
FY 2012, up from 46% in FY 2011.
$23.8 million in recycling revenue earned in FY 2012.

26. 20 environmental stewardship
Electronic waste (e-waste) stewardship
With more electronic devices available than ever
before, there are growing concerns about their
improper disposal. Electronic waste, or e-waste, may
contain heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury
that are harmful to human health and the environment.
USPS continues to collect e-waste for recycling,
including when we close facilities due to network
consolidation. Using our three e-waste principles —
secure data destruction, recycle and reuse, and
landfill avoidance — we centralize e-waste collection
using an approved contractor, who is “ISO 14001”
and “R2” (responsible recycling) third-party certified.
Third-party certification standards offer a way to
assess the environmental, worker health and security
practices of companies managing used electronics.
In 2012, this partnership resulted in recycling more
than 1,260 tons of e-waste and related recyclable
material, with $740,000 in shared revenue.
USPS Northern New England District honored on America
Recycles Day
USPS Chief Sustainability Officer Tom Day visited the Northern
New England District to praise employee efforts. After meeting
with Portland, ME, letter carriers, Day made a presentation
on behalf of the Postmaster General in the Southern Maine
facility’s recycling room honoring employees for the district’s
no. 1 ranking in recycling performance nationwide.
Accompanied by Northeast Area VP Rick Uluski and District
Manager Deborah Essler, Day commended employees for their
unprecedented success.
He presented awards to the district’s green team members
for initiating and coordinating our most ambitious recycling
program. Recycling revenue per delivery point is three
times higher than the national average. “Northern New
England employees have led the way and have established
a sustainability path for our postal districts nationwide to
follow,” Day said.
Portland, ME. Southern Maine Processing & Distribution
Center custodian Ron Sirois and Chief Sustainability Officer
Tom Day at the recycling event held at the facility.
Highway interchange —
In Miami, Interstate
Highways 95 and 395
converge in a carefully
engineered, multi-level
interchange. Off-and-
on-ramps convey traffic
from one level to another
and from one interstate
to another at this intricate
urban “crossroads.”

27. environmental stewardship 21
Water conservation and
management
We are looking at both our water footprint and
ways in which we impact water quality. Our
facilities are mostly supplied from potable water
sources used for our employees, building systems
and landscaping. A better understanding of our
consumption patterns helps improve strategies to
reduce our water footprint. Over the last several
years we incorporated water-use tracking into our
national utility management system and currently
track water use at more than 4,700 facilities. We
added thousands of water records in 2012, which
makes our water use estimates more accurate.
Facility water conservation in action
The Honolulu Processing & Distribution Center
(P&DC) recently began replacing restroom fixtures
with EPA WaterSense products. WaterSense,
an EPA partnership program, ensures consumer
confidence in buying water-efficient products
backed by third-party, independent testing and
certification. Learn more at http://www.epa.
gov/watersense/. Field Maintenance Operations
Manager Roslyn Hanchett said, “We researched
available WaterSense products online and then
located them at a local hardware store. They were
very easy to install and we plan on using more of
them in upcoming replacements.”
The Houston plant went further by installing
waterless restroom fixtures. Maintenance Manager
Mike Keppler said, “We replaced more than 40
fixtures. Less water meant reduced maintenance.
The new fixtures have been working very well, and
the cartridges and inserts are recyclable.”
Stormwater management
According to the EPA, stormwater runoff is one
of the leading sources of water pollution in the
U.S. Federal and state regulations require many
businesses, including USPS, to get stormwater
runoff permits and prepare written pollution
prevention plans. The Postal Service has more than
150 of these permitted facilities across the country.
These plans identify procedures for minimizing
the potential for pollutants to be carried away in
stormwater discharges.
For example, some postal facilities in California are
required to perform stormwater runoff sampling
to ensure pollutants are not being discharged. A
sampler is placed in site drainage areas to capture
stormwater discharge for analysis and subsequent
reporting to state regulators.
Sampler placed in stormwater discharge at Oakland vehicle
maintenance facility.
38% decrease — water use since 2007
Target: Reduce water use 10 percent by FY 2020 from
FY 2007 baseline.
Progress: Water use decreased 38 percent from the FY
2007 baseline to FY 2012 or 2 billion gallons.
USPS spent $23 million on water services in 2012.

28. 22 environmental stewardship
Syracuse, NY, Colvin-Elmwood
Post Office green roof under way
USPS participated with Syracuse officials in a
ribbon-cutting ceremony to announce a green roof
atop the Colvin-Elmwood Post Office. The 11,300
square-foot roof is being built through an innovative
sustainability partnership with Onondaga County.
The roof will reduce the amount of stormwater
runoff flowing into the municipal water system.
Construction began in 2012 and the roof planting
is scheduled to begin in spring 2013.
Working with the county’s Save the Rain initiative,
USPS found the roof to be structurally sound
enough to handle the additional weight of soil,
vegetation and other green roof requirements. The
roof will include a new membrane, drainage sheet
layers, indigenous vegetation and a wind blanket.
The project fits into the Postal Service’s commitment
to create sustainable spaces and facilities. The
expected lifespan is up to 50 years, twice as long as
the current roof.
Environmental management
and regulatory compliance
The Postal Service uses a management systems
approach to identify and address existing and
emerging environmental compliance issues and
associated impacts. This approach is based on
continuous improvement.
Corporate level risk planning. We are subject to
numerous federal, state and local environmental
laws and regulations. In 2012, the Postal Service
improved its corporate-level facility risk criteria to
better manage risk mitigation resource planning.
As part of our continuous improvement process,
the Postal Service periodically reviews facility risk
assessment criteria to address business, regulatory
and environmental aspects and impacts.
Risk assessments based on significant aspects.
Our environmental management system is a facility-
based environmental risk assessment effort. These
assessments identify current compliance issues
as well as non-regulatory deficiencies that could,
if not addressed, lead to non-compliance with
local, state, or federal environmental regulations.
This benefits the Postal Service by minimizing
potential fines and penalties and enhances our
environmental stewardship by identifying and
correcting compliance issues and instilling best
practices. In 2012, the Postal Service completed
over 280 environmental risk assessments.
Mitigate and manage risk. Addressing root
causes is part of managing and reducing overall
environmental risks to our organization. We
track corrective and preventive actions using
compliance monitoring, and have developed several
corporate-level systems to assist in managing our
environmental efforts:
ƒƒ Compliance assistance tools — robust website to
provide facility environmental compliance support.
ƒƒ Data management — information system to
track facility environmental data.
ƒƒ Records management — system to retain,
manage, store and archive environmental records.
ƒƒ Training — environmental compliance training
courses.
Underground storage tank training
In 2012, USPS focused on providing newly developed
underground storage tank operator training, as required
under the Energy Policy Act. Our transportation network
has facilities in 37 states and territories that required the
training. More than 800 employees received the training
from our learning management system and external state-
approved vendors. Operating these storage tanks in an
environmentally sound manner reduces risk and potential
releases into the environment.
Green roof construction begins.

29. Butte in early morning fog — Fog rolls in and around Stagecoach butte, one of the many
red sandstone formations rising from the floor of the Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park
in southeastern Utah. Snow dusts the rugged crest of the butte. Photo by Jim Wark.
Center-pivot irrigation — Circular patterns on Kansas cropland
show center-pivot sprinkler systems have been at work. Red
circles indicate healthy, irrigated crops; lighter circles represent
harvested crops. Corn, wheat, alfalfa, soybeans, and grain
sorghum account for most of the irrigated acreage in Kansas.
The stamp art is a detail of an image captured by NASA’s
Landsat 7 satellite.
Railroad roundhouse — Early 20th-century steam locomotives undergo maintenance
inside the restored railroad roundhouse and museum. A turntable turns locomotives
around and provides access to the roundhouse service stalls. Photo by Jim Wark.
environmental stewardship 23
Cherry orchard — Spring is cherry blossom time, and at this
cherry orchard in Door County, WI, every tree seems to be in
bloom. Door County is known for its tart red cherries, usually
harvested from about mid-July to mid-August. Photo by
Richard Hamilton Smith.
Barge fleeting — A pair of towboats “wrangle” commercial barges in the Old River
barge fleeting area near the Houston Ship Channel in Texas. The channel allows
access from the Gulf of Mexico to the Port of Houston, a major industrial center. The
photograph of the Apollo (top) and Taurus (bottom, formerly named Marie Cenac) was
taken by Jim Wark.

30. USPS offers affordable, high-quality products and
services that demonstrate greater environmental
awareness. Our website, www.usps.com/green,
provides green tips and other resources for
customers and business mailers that help them
save money. We are exploring more opportunities
with vendors and other agencies to offer reverse
logistics mail-back solutions. This includes our
recently developed signature USPS BlueEarth
Product Carbon Accounting Service, which helps
businesses understand their own carbon footprint.
Green shipping products
As part of ongoing efforts to improve the
environmental attributes of our products, the Postal
Service has identified new contract procurement
specifications for our expedited and Ready Post
Mail packaging products.
The new requirements include minimum post-
consumer recycled content and third-party eco-
label certification — the Forest Stewardship Council
(http://us.fsc.org/) or the Sustainable Forestry
Initiative (http://www.sfiprogram.org/).
Certification systems like FSC and SFI promote
responsible forestry with chain of custody
certifications to ensure products bearing their labels
were produced using sustainable forest management
practices, including recycled fiber content. As a
further alternative, suppliers can achieve compliance
with the Postal Service requirements through Cradle
to Cradle CertificationTM.
products and services
24 products and services

31. Geothermal spring — At the center of Grand Prismatic
Spring in Yellowstone National Park, water temperatures
reach nearly 190 degrees — too hot to support most
life — but along the edges of the pool, bacteria and
algae can thrive, as indicated by the colorful pigments
and mats they produce. Photo by Jim Wark.
Cash-back opportunity — electronic
device recycling through the mail
The Postal Service reintroduced its free postage-
paid, mail-back program — with a new cash-back
offer for used and unwanted small electronic
devices. Since our mail-back program offering
began in 2008, more than a million electronic
devices and printer cartridges have been kept out
of landfills. We are building on that success.
MaxBack offers cash in return for small
electronics — with free postage-paid, return
shipping through USPS. Since the program rolled
out in September 2012, we have handled more than
3 tons of electronic devices in the mail.
Customers can go green as they trade in old
electronic gadgets for cash. Devices covered by
the program include cell phones, personal digital
assistants, mp3 players, digital cameras, iPods
and tablets.
By accessing www.usps.com/ship/recycle-
through-usps.htm, customers can determine what
electronics qualify and how much their cell phones
or electronic devices are worth. An instant quote is
provided and the device can be mailed back free via
Priority Mail. Once received, MaxBack inspects the
item and sends money based on the option chosen.
Gary Reblin, vice president of New Products and
Innovation, said, “We’ve expanded this recycling
program to offer more consumers the opportunity
to protect the environment and put some money in
their pocket. And shipping is free.”
MaxBack
MaxBack remarkets gently used cell phones and electronics
safely and securely. Damaged or unusable electronics are
remanufactured or recycled by MaxBack’s parent company
Environmental Reclamation Services (ERS), a zero-landfill,
ISO-14001 and R2-certified, reverse-logistics company. ERS,
located in Erie, PA, has been in business for two decades
and is the premier recycler of printer cartridges and small
electronics from around the world.

32. 26 products and services
Ink jet cartridge recycling offered at
postal retail locations
Since the re-introduction of the program in
September 2012, we have processed over 25,000
ink jet cartridge return envelopes through the mail.
MaxBack inkjet recycling envelopes are provided
at participating postal retail locations nationwide.
Customers can place their empty ink cartridges in
the free postage-paid envelope and send it off.
Medical waste and unused
medication — return by mail
USPS is working to help prevent unused
medications from entering the environment. We
have developed specially designed envelopes to
mail unused prescription and over-the-counter
medications for proper disposal.
This gives the public access to an easy, affordable and
environmentally responsible way to dispose of unused
or expired medications. Nearly 172,000 pounds of
unused pharmaceuticals (current regulations exclude
controlled substances) have been collected in 2012
through the USPS mail-back initiative.
Consumers can purchase these kits from provider
websites or select retail pharmacies. Learn more at
http://www.sharpsinc.com/learning-center/unused-
medication-disposal.
Earthscapes puzzle
During 2012, the Postal Service began offering
customers a 500-piece puzzle that showcases the
Earthscapes Forever stamps. The 18-by 24-inch
Earthscapes puzzle features 15 spectacular images
of America’s landscapes as seen from high above
the planet’s surface. The puzzle is available at
selected Post Offices or at usps.com/shop.
TakeawayTM mail-back envelope for unused medication with
Intelligent Mail barcode.

33. Green-themed products
Our 16-panel Go Green stamp sheets, released in
2011, contain green themes and messages. They
are available online at http://www.stampproducts.
com/gogreen. In addition, an assortment of Go Green
products such as playing cards, tote bags, unique
seed-embedded postcards that can be planted and
grown, and a family activity kit with tips for making a
greener world were made available for ordering online.
products and services 27

34. Sustainable acquisition can lead to improved
product quality and reliability, lower risk and more
efficient products that reduce costs. Recognizing
that we can responsibly influence our suppliers’
social and environmental performance, we are
developing collaborative relationships and applying
sustainable acquisition stewardship practices into
our business. Some highlights for 2012 include:
ƒƒ Sustainability excellence supplier award
program. Our annual supplier sustainability
award recognizes suppliers with exemplary
sustainability performance and attributes.
ƒƒ Environmentally preferable product
offerings. During 2012, we worked to have
suppliers provide accurate product attributes
and relevant eco-labels for use in our online
supply catalog. This helps postal employees
identify environmentally preferable products.
ƒƒ Interagency collaboration. We participated in
a General Services Administrative-sponsored
Sustainable Procurement Fellows Partnership
program and are working with them to evaluate
ways to integrate sustainability considerations
into national procurement requirements for
environmentally preferable products, alternative
fuels and alternative-fuel vehicle placement.
ƒƒ Consumable supplies. Reducing spending
on consumables has been another area of
focus. Since 2008, spending on consumables
has decreased 39 percent or by almost
$200 million. This is largely the result of a
purchasing program overhaul several years ago.
Reductions in the use of office, custodial and
maintenance supplies have reduced costs and
avoided material use and waste.
The Postal Service has two categories of supplies,
those that are purchased in our online supplies
catalog and those purchased off-catalog.
Looking ahead, we will be updating our sustainability
acquisition targets while continuing to work with
suppliers on offering environmentally preferable
products (EPP) into our on-line supplies catalog.
Planned upgrades to our on-line supplies catalog
will enhance our reporting and tracking capabilities
including EPP over the next several years.
In 2014, we are planning to establish a new EPP
baseline and commit to increasing our purchases
of EPP in our catalog from 2015 to 2020. We
have deferred from including previously reported
performance data on increasing EPP products
until this upgrade and new data tracking system
is completed.
We will continue to work toward having our off-
catalog suppliers with contract commitments
of $500,000 or more provide sustainability data
(i.e. EPP, energy & water efficiency, bio based
& recycled content). Further, we plan to have
sustainability clauses included within all new
contract actions by FY 2015.
sustainable acquisition
and purchasing
28 sustainable acquisition and purchasing
Encouraging a diverse supply chain
The Postal Service is committed to a strong supplier
base that reflects the diversity of the American business
community. Explore our supplier diversity corporate plan at
http://about.usps.com/suppliers/diversity-program.htm.
In FY 2012, we continued to encourage supplier diversity by
promoting contracting and business opportunities through
proactive outreach efforts and events. This is the 12th
consecutive year USPS was chosen as one of America’s
top 10 government organizations for multicultural business
opportunities by DiversityBusiness.com.

35. Environmentally preferable product
purchasing
Our environmentally preferable products (EPP)
purchasing program has been in place since
FY 2007. As with all purchases, we incorporate cost,
performance and environmental considerations into
the program. We look for alternative products that are:
ƒƒ bio-based.
ƒƒ made of recycled content.
ƒƒ free of targeted hazardous chemicals.
ƒƒ energy and water efficient — including
certifications from the Forest Stewardship
Council or the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
These products can lead to less waste, lower
utility costs and reduced risks and impacts to
the environment.
In FY 2012, we purchased $295 million in EPP —
with $270 million spent on recycled content
products. The top recycled content products
included packaging and office supplies.
Products such as paper and cardboard made with
recycled materials produce fewer GHG emissions
during manufacture than non-recycled content
material. By using recycled content envelopes,
we avoided 77,400 metric tons of carbon dioxide-
equivalent (MT CO2
e) emissions. Mail transport
equipment made of cardboard has avoided over
30,400 MT CO2
e by reducing paper-production
emissions. Metal products such as mailbox
equipment and vehicle parts have avoided 20,500
MT CO2
e.
Making the business case for retread tires
Retreading reconditions previously used tires and
places them back in service.
Daily stop-and-start curbside delivery wears tires
out quickly. We established a national contract
service to retread our used tires, which have been
cost effective and durable, dependable and safe.
A fleet of 212,530 vehicles uses a lot of tires —
retreading saves a lot of green.
ƒƒ Seven-ton vehicles
50 percent savings per retread tire.
ƒƒ Two-ton vehicle
25 percent savings per retread tire.
ƒƒ Long-life vehicle
10 percent savings per retread tire.
($) millions purchased
(baseline)
$200 $225 $250 $275 $300
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007 252.7
269.4
268.2
238.9
288.0
295.3
Total environmentally preferable
products purchased ($million)
Skyscraper apartments — Endless
rows of balconies and windows dot the
Manhattan cityscape. In this detail of a
photograph, the camera’s telephoto lens
compresses the distance between the
towers of a high-rise. Photo by Jim Wark.

36. Postal Service employees delivered excellent
service in 2012 and play a vital role in America’s
communities. Our 530,000 employees are part of
America’s communities in ways that go far beyond
delivering mail and packages. We get to know our
customers and help communities connect. Working
toward greater engagement with employees and
the communities we serve makes for a more
sustainable organization.
Our people are sustainability champions
We take pride in our large national programs, but
local efforts also make a big difference. To help you
understand the contributions of employees, we are
profiling just a few of the many great performers
within our organization.
Leo Brenot: “Never accept ‘can’t’ for an
answer.”
Leo Brenot, a seven-year employee, transports
mail at the Toledo plant as an motor vehicle service
driver. In June 2012 he was appointed as the
recycling coordinator, with spectacular results.
Brenot developed a recycling plan and shared it with
all 196 postmasters, station and branch managers
in the Toledo service area. With the support of local
management and union representatives, Brenot
leveraged the existing reverse logistic transportation
network to consolidate mixed paper, cardboard,
plastic and other recyclables into the Toledo facility.
They went from recycling 8 tons a month in June
2012 to more than 50 tons a month in October
2012 — a six fold increase — achieving “zero
waste” status.
“We replaced over 100 trash containers in the plant
with recycling containers and consolidated all the
facility trash into one small 4-cubic yard dumpster,
a 90 percent reduction.”
Brenot worked with Supply Management to right-
size trash contracts for over a dozen participating
Post Offices in the Toledo area. Trash pickup was
reduced from weekly to monthly and container size
was reduced to small, 2-yard containers — saving
$50,000 annually for participating offices.
Brenot explained the biggest challenge was “trying to
change people’s habits and old ways of thinking.” He
added, “Sustainability is a win-win for the Post Office
and the environment. We all need to do our part.”
people and community
Recycling Coordinator Leo Brenot
30 people and community

37. Patricia Holcomb: “Every Post Office should
commit to a plan to go-greener, save expenses
and the environment!”
Patricia Holcomb, a 30-year Postal employee, is
the Postmaster in Farmington, AR, and has held
several positions in customer and delivery service
during her career.
Holcomb read an
article in Postal Bulletin
back in 2010 about
the “Read, Respond,
and Recycle” mail
campaign in Post
Office lobbies to
recycle lobby discards.
Holcomb said, “It
took time. We had
to change customer
behavior and kept at
it by placing ‘please
recycle’ reminder
notices in customer
PO boxes and large
posters in the lobby.”
This 10,000-square-
foot Post Office not
only responded with
a successful lobby
recycling campaign,
but also took a
hard look at all its waste generation. “We set up
recycling at every carrier route, and clerk and retail
window station, for paper, plastic and cardboard,”
Holcomb said. “All our employees participated.”
The result was elimination of a large trash
dumpster and replacing it with a small, 30-gallon
can. Everything else the facility generated was
recycled — trash costs were reduced annually by
over 90 percent. “We are now looking at energy
consumption and how to reduce our energy and
fuel costs,” Holcomb said.
“I’m willing to take a stand and contribute to
a sustainable workplace. It’s all about attitude
and motion. By doing the right thing as postal
employees, we can make a difference with our own
actions every day,” she said.
Lou Fallon: “Sustainability means ‘remain-ability’
for the Postal Service.”
Lou Fallon, with 33 years of service, manages the
Erie, PA, Vehicle Maintenance Facility (VMF), which
includes the New Castle, PA, satellite VMF. Fallon
began his career as a clerk and has held various
positions including safety and operations.
According to Fallon, related vehicle maintenance
and repair shops pose special challenges and
require a high level of focus in both environmental
stewardship and work place safety. “We realized
that all of us working together can make a
difference,” he said.
Glacier and icebergs — Ice breaks from the foot of
Alaska’s Bear Glacier and becomes icebergs in a
lake. Dirt and rocks picked up by the glacier when
it moves downhill can be seen at the edges and
center of the glacier and in some of the bergs. The
image was captured by the IKONOS satellite.
Farmington, AR, Postmaster
Patricia Holcomb

38. 32 people and community
The shop worked toward achieving zero waste and
turning costs into revenue over time. They recycle
or re-use nearly everything, including used motor
oil, filters, used antifreeze, car parts, scrap metal,
absorbent mats, uniforms, rags, aerosol cans, steel
tire weights, batteries, tires, hand towels, mixed
paper, plastic and cardboard. This has allowed
them to eliminate onsite trash collection service.
In particular, they also made a concerted effort
to cap all floor drains and eliminate other sources
to prevent potential accidental discharges to the
environment and stormwater runoff. Meanwhile
employees compiled an excellent accident
record — none during the past eight years.
“It means a lot when employees tell me they have
initiated these practices at home,” said Fallon.
“Being sustainable in our jobs and lives keeps our
planet’s ecosystem healthy.”
Green Teams on the rise
Last year we worked to provide tools and make it
easier to help employees implement green initiatives
at their facilities with online tutorial videos and
training. This year we are seeing the results.
The number of Green Teams registered on our
Green initiative tracking tool (GITT) grew to over 800
during 2012. The GITT identifies low- and no-cost
green projects for any facility and also provides a
tool to measure the success of green projects.
Lean Green teams play an integral role in helping
the Postal Service create a culture of conservation.
Their members adopt green practices in several
categories, such as reducing facility energy and
vehicle petroleum use, reducing the amount of solid
waste sent to landfills, improving water efficiency,
recycling and requisitioning fewer supplies. Team
members represent a wide range of areas including
delivery and retail operations, maintenance, supply
management and human resources.
Chief Sustainability Officer Tom Day said, “All across
the board, from supply management to facilities
to delivery, we’re integrating sound sustainable
business practices into our day-to-day operations.”
Postal employees set up lobby recycling.
Erie, PA, VMF Manager Lou Fallon

39. people and community 33
2012 Postmaster General Sustainability
Excellence Award
Our third annual Postmaster General Sustainability
Excellence award recognizes teams at facilities,
districts, areas, and headquarters that have
contributed to a sustainable workplace. The
program is sponsored by the Postmaster General
and implemented by the Sustainability Office with
support from headquarters and field officers. This
year, 10 outstanding teams were selected. “Leaner,
greener, faster and smarter is our sustainability
goal,” Postmaster General Pat Donahoe said. “It’s
environmentally responsible and it’s a good business
decision because when we lower our carbon
footprint, we also bring our costs down.” The award
recipients demonstrated how their local initiatives
reduced energy consumption, vehicle petroleum use,
waste sent to landfills, purchase of consumables, or
water use. The 2012 award recipients:
ƒƒ Headquarters, Supply Management — stamp
shipments using excess packaging supply
inventory
ƒƒ Northeast Area, Northern New England
District — recycling
ƒƒ Capital Metro Area, Capital District —
employees driving toward a greener tomorrow
ƒƒ Western Area, Salt Lake City District —
wilderness backhaul recycling
ƒƒ Western Area, Denver Network Distribution
Center — facility energy upgrades
ƒƒ Western Area , Wichita Remote Encoding
Center — goes green
ƒƒ Eastern Area, Philadelphia Network Distribution
Facility — sustainability program
ƒƒ Western Area, Denver, Vehicle Maintenance
Facility — recycling and petroleum reduction
using b20 biodiesel
ƒƒ Headquarters, Supply Management —
operating the asset fulfillment recycling program
ƒƒ Northeast Area, Errol, NH, Post Office —
revenue, re-use and reducing landfill waste
Employees’ opinions matter —
sustainability engagement
The Postal Service reaches out to all employees
through its Voice of the Employee (VOE) survey.
VOE measures employee engagement through
questions about strategic direction, trust,
contribution to USPS growth, communication,
diversity and respect, commitment, sustainability
and many other issues.
Recent VOE results show our employees are aware
of and highly concerned about current business
conditions. Respondents also said that they
actively conserve resources such as water, fuel and
electricity in the workplace.
Household diary study — engaging the
American people.
Since 1987, USPS has conducted a survey of America’s
mail use to:
ƒƒ Measure the mail sent and received by U.S. households.
ƒƒ Provide a means to track household mail trends over
time.
ƒƒ Make comparisons of mail use between different types
of households.
The Household Diary consists of a week-long account of
each participant’s use of the mail. This survey helps us to be
more responsive to customer needs
Did you know! More than 60 percent of all U.S. households
visit a Post Office at least once a month. More than
27 percent of all U.S. households visit a Post Office three
or more times a month.
Learn more at: http://about.usps.com/current-initiatives/
studying-americans-mail-use.htm

40. 34 people and community
Community involvement
The local Post Office remains an important part of
a community and supports many national and local
programs. Such programs reinforce the unique
relationship the Postal Service has with the American
people. We take pride in these national programs.
Postal Service employees pledged an average
of $38 million annually to the Combined Federal
Campaign, the world’s largest workplace
philanthropy program.
Our letter carriers take a leading role in the annual
Stamp out Hunger food drive. Last year, the Postal
Service, the National Association of Letter Carriers,
Feeding America, the Campbell Soup Company,
and other partner organizations — including the
National Rural Letter Carriers Association and
other USPS employees — collected more than
70.7 million pounds of food during the nation’s
largest single-day food drive.
Last year was the 20th anniversary of the drive and
was the ninth consecutive time donations totaled
more than 70 million pounds.
We assist with efforts to find missing children. Since
1985, USPS has worked with the National Center
for Missing and Exploited Children and Valassis
to reunite families with missing children. Valassis
publishes the RedPlum circular that showcases the
“Have You Seen Me?” photos.
USPS is the nation’s leading organization in
increasing the national registry of potential marrow
donors to help save lives. Since 1997, we have
recruited more than 58,200 employees and
members of their families to become donors. More
than 80 have become donors, helping critically ill
patients. The Postal Service has now aligned its
efforts with Be the Match, focusing on individuals
between the ages of 18 and 44. Learn more
information on Be the Match and how to become a
marrow donor at bethematch.org.
Forever healthy stamp
To promote a healthy lifestyle, the surgeon general
of the United States and the American Heart
Association joined Postmaster General Pat Donahoe
in dedicating the 2012 Heart Health Forever stamp.
“Nothing touches the heart like a letter from a loved
one,” said Donahoe. “We hope Americans will use
our 2012 Heart Health social awareness stamps for
writing letters to loved ones and friends.”
The ceremony was held at the Medstar Washington
Hospital Center in Washington, DC.
Letter Carrier Phil Lige unloads donated food.
From left, Dr. Stuart Seides, Physician Executive Director,
MedStar Heart Institute, MedStar Washington Hospital;
Barry Franklin, Member, National American Heart
Association Board of Directors; Dr. Regina Benjamin, MBA,
Surgeon General; Postmaster General Pat Donahoe; Michael
Torchia, president and founder, Operation Fitness, and
celebrity trainer.

41. people and community 35
Federal Duck stamps — an American
conservation icon
The Hampton, VA, Post Office hosted an event at
Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World to celebrate the
Federal Duck stamp’s 79th year of issuance. Federal
Duck stamps have raised more than $851 million
and helped the acquisition of more than 5.3 million
acres of wetlands habitat since 1934 — facilitating
one of the most successful conservation efforts in
the world.
Participants included representatives from the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Virginia Department
of Game and Inland Fisheries, the City of Hampton,
Bass Pro Shops, USPS and 2012-2013 Federal
Duck stamp artist Joseph Hautman. Wetlands purify
water, store flood waters and reduce erosion.
More than 98 percent of the revenue from these
stamps is earmarked for the procurement of these
natural habitats. “When wetlands are nourished
and protected, the migratory birds, other wildlife,
fish, plants and people all benefit,” said Hampton
Postmaster Lucy Winmon.
“The Postal Service has worked with us to make
this work,” said Fish and Wildlife Service Director
Daniel Ashe. “How many investments that you make
have such a great rate of return?”
Dozens of hunters, philatelists, ornithologists and
conservationists lined up to purchase the new duck
stamp. According to Hautman, “I learned about
conservation through duck stamps, which are truly
small works of art.”
Hampton, VA, Postmaster Lucy Winmon sells the first Duck
stamp to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Daniel Ashe.

42. 36
Earthscapes: seeing our sustainable world in a new way.
The entire collection of these stunning stamps is available at usps.com.

43. U.S. Postal Service 2012 Sustainability Report is
published by:
United States Postal Service
Office of Sustainability, Rm 2801
475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC 20260-4233
sustainability@usps.gov
© 2013 United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Read our 2012 Annual Sustainability Report at:
usps.com/green.
Digitally printed on recycled paper with 100% post-
consumer waste.
This document and all mail are recyclable. Please
recycle!