The USPS announced a free recycling project called ‘mail back.’
The “Mail Back” program helps consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers use free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage.
Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a “zero waste to landfill” policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills.
Kind of a drop in the bucket since the UPSP has 37,000 retail locations, but it’s a start. Apparently, the only way to know if your post office is offering the mail back program is to show up in the lobby of the P.O. and look for the display holding the mail back envelopes.
Another promising new green idea is to rent your solar panels from Citizenre. No capital outlay, pay only what you previously paid your utility company monthly, and start using solar electric. Again, a small number of initial sites are in on it now, but they are just getting started. Where I live, I already opt to get my electricity from wind generators, so I wonder what my local public service is going to do with this one.