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The Post Office Box Lobby Recycling program is a project of the
United States Postal Service The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
(USPS) that was created on October 28, 2008, for mail customers to
recycle Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
paper items, using
recycling bin A recycling bin (or recycle bin) is a container used to hold recyclables before they are taken to recycling centers. Recycling bins exist in various sizes for use inside and outside homes, offices, and large public facilities. Separate co ...
s placed in the customer lobbies of
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...
buildings. Some of the goals of the program are to reduce the amount of paper waste going to
landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...
s, which helps to reduce the consumption of fiber from trees used for paper production and
greenhouse gas emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and lar ...
associated with waste disposal. USPS receives revenue from selling the material, and no tax dollars are used to fund the project. USPS was reported as having recycled over of waste in 2009, including paper, plastics and other waste.


Participation

Some U.S. post offices do not participate in the program, and sometimes recycle paper items independently of the program, in bins in their employee work areas. Some reasons for non-participation are building space constraints and limited personnel at some U.S. post offices. At some post offices, mail received that is undeliverable is recycled. , some U.S. post offices did not participate in the program.


Timeline

In March 2009, the total number of bins was increased by 1,844, to a total of nearly 5,900 recycling bins. In April 2010, it was reported that the number of post offices participating in the program had increased to 8,064.


Security

The program uses -capacity plastic bins, which USPS refers to as "Slim Jims". The bins have lockable lids and have a narrow insertion slot to maintain customer privacy and limit the potential of discarded mail being stolen for the harvesting of
personal information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely accepted in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates ha ...
.


See also

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Environmental issues in the United States Environmental issues in the United States include climate change, energy, species conservation, invasive species, deforestation, mining, nuclear accidents, pesticides, pollution, waste and over-population. Despite taking hundreds of measures, t ...
*
Paper recycling The recycling of paper is the process by which waste paper is turned into new paper products. It has a number of important benefits: It saves waste paper from occupying homes of people and producing methane as it breaks down. Because paper fib ...
* Recycling in the United States *
Waste minimisation Waste minimisation is a set of processes and practices intended to reduce the amount of waste produced. By reducing or eliminating the generation of harmful and persistent wastes, waste minimisation supports efforts to promote a more sustainab ...


References


Further reading

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External links

* (February 12, 2010.
"Recycling in Post Offices expanding."United States Postal Service


Postal Bulletin 22334. United States Postal Service.

United States Postal Service. {{United States Postal Service Recycling in the United States United States Postal Service