A paperless post office box

Seattle-based Earth Class Mail has brought the last vestiges of human communications online while keeping an eye on the environment.

Billed as a way to boost recycling and save fuel, Earth Class Mail’s more than 5,000 customers sign up to have their mail delivered to one of 19 P.O. box addresses around the country. It’s then sent to a central scanning center in Beaverton, Ore., scanned and uploaded to a Web site where customers can view the outside of an envelope and decide whether to have it opened and scanned, shipped to a designated address or recycled.

“For the first year we focused on consumers to prove to our investors that there was interest and then after our second round of funding we’re going after businesses,” says Melissa Milburn, vice president of corporate communications for Earth Class Mail. She adds that the company can help businesses go paper-free and reduce costs associated with paper mail such as labor, supplies and shipping to remote employees.

Earth Class Mail says it recycles over 90 percent of the physical mail it opens and scans and more than 99 percent of the unopened mail — a lot more than the average citizen can claim. The company says it currently recycles more than 1 ton of mail each month, and anticipates reaching 10 tons per month before the year’s end. “In 2008, our goal is to recycle more than 200 tons of paper,” Milburn wrote in an email. “Our mission is save one million trees — and that’s just the beginning.”

Less than 36 percent of advertising mail was recycled in 2005, according to the nonprofit Center for a New American Dream. A U.S. Postal Service study found that advertisers sent 104.8 billion pieces of mail in 2006, representing about 62 percent of all U.S mail. Earth Class Mail reports more than half the mail it opens, scans and recycles for customers is from advertisers.

About one third of the company’s thousands of customers are ex-pats, according to Milburn. Avoiding shipping for international clients saves fuel, Milburn says. The company also plans to offer more physical addresses and scanning centers throughout the country in the next six to nine months. The company says it believes the change will improve the service’s fuel savings.

In September, the company secured $7.4 million in Series A financing, led by Seattle-based venture capital firm Ignition Partners. Earth Class Mail plans to close the round with a total of $19.7 million during Q4 2007, according to media reports.