Post office finds new revenue in e-waste

The United States Postal Service (USPS) launched a pilot electronics-recycling program in 10 regions. Chatsworth-based Clover Technologies Group beat out 19 other recycling companies for the post office’s business. The company will pay for postage on envelopes U.S. citizens can use to mail obsolete electronics for recycling and will remanufacture the materials into new parts or sheets of plastics and metals, which will then be sold.

The program could help boost use of the postal system, which has seen a steady decline in first-class mail since the early 2000s. USPS reported that overall mail volume slipped 3 percent in first quarter 2008, attributing the drop to woes in the housing and financial sectors, both “heavy users of the mail,” according to a USPS release.

According to Dan Barrett, manager of business planning for USPS, Clover’s zero-waste-to-landfill policy and ability to recycle electronics on a nationwide scale helped it stand out from other proposals the post office received. 

Barrett, who was also the driving force behind the Cradle-to-Cradle certification of USPS Express Mail and Priority Mail envelopes and boxes, says the post office’s longtime connection to households makes it a natural fit for tackling the growing mountain of obsolete electronics in the country.
Consumers can pick up pre-paid recycling envelopes at any of the 1,500 participating post offices and drop packages in any blue USPS box, in their home mailbox or at any post office.

In fall 2008 USPS will evaluate expanding the program nationwide depending on the response rate in pilot markets. “We just want to make sure that this is as convenient as we think it is to consumers and that they are taking advantage of the program,” Barrett says.