The U.S. Postal Service announced sweeping plans Tuesday to reduce greenhouse emissions by diverting more parcels from air to ground transportation, boosting the number of electric vehicles, cutting waste sent to landfills and making delivery routes more efficient.
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy described a mix of environmental initiatives and cost-cutting business practices that together would combine to reduce the Postal Service’s contribution to planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030, meeting the Biden administration environmental goals in the process.
“We reduce costs, we reduce carbon. It’s very much hand in hand,” said DeJoy, who acknowledged being impatient with the pace of change, including the rollout of electric vehicles.
All told, the Postal Service intends to save $5 billion by consolidating smaller facilities into larger sorting and processing hubs that eliminate thousands of trips a day, along with operational changes such as modernizing facilities and reducing outsourced work, officials said.
Those efficiency-driven changes will help the environment by reducing carbon emissions by eliminating wasteful activities, in addition to electric vehicles and other efforts.