Submitted by Eileen Bowers, Energy Advisory Panel
"Read, Respond, Recycle" is the banner under which the US Postal Service launched its Post Office Box Lobby Recycling Program in October 2008, intending to reach out to postal customers with a convenient, environmentally responsible alternative to bringing home or discarding their mail in the trash.
Unfortunately, our small postal facility does not qualify for this USPS-sponsored recycling program. The 8000+ postal facilities nationwide that do qualify helped recycle 274,000 tons of mixed paper, cardboard, cans and plastic in 2008. Therefore, to help control the trash in our post office lobby, our new, permanent Postmaster Jason Knott literally took matters into his own hands. He has made a container with a slotted lid that only allows for the collection of mixed paper for recycling. This new lobby container has replaced both of the open-topped trash and mixed-paper recycling containers, the latter which was often times contaminated with the likes of dirty diapers and chicken bones.
Transferring this collected mixed paper to our recycling trailer or to future recycling venues, however, has been and will continue to be the responsibility of Energy Advisory Panel volunteers. Since discarded mail is voluntarily deposited in Mr. Jason`s new mixed-paper container, the contents can be recycled only by volunteers. (Mr. Jason and other USPS personnel at our post office would be obligated to "securely" dispose of discarded mail as trash.)
In addition to taking the responsibility to recycle our mail, remember that we have a say in what goes in our mailbox. To reduce unsolicited mail, work with a do-it-yourself junk mail reduction program as found on www.govspot.com/ask/nameofflist, and www.obviously.com/junkmail, or for a small fee, www.stopthejunkmail.com. Also available is the opt-lout service available through the Consumer Credit Reporting Industry at 1-888-5 OPT OUT (567-8688). Contact businesses that send you unwanted catalogs and offers your way and ask to be removed from their lists. Junk mail weighs in at an average of 41 pounds per adult per year, creating 4 million tons of waste a year that fills 3% of America`s landfills. It not only destroys 62 million trees a year but also creates 28 billion gallons of waste water per year. And yet 44% of the time, our junk mail is unopened, unread and trashed! The USPS is committed to leaving a green footprint as it makes progress in sustainability, hopefully one day expanding the "Read, Respond and Recycle" program to all of their facilities. In cooperation with the USPS we need to make the environmentally responsible choice and "Read, Respond and Recycle" our mail at our post office or at home.
Sources: www.usps.com , www.phillupdbag.com (Note: This column is a project of Cedar Key`s Energy Advisor Panel. We welcome first-person accounts from individuals who are conserving (or, even aspiring to conserve) our community`s natural resources. Your submission may be made via email to: eileenlbowers@yahoo.com. Please include your full name and your phone number. | 
