Being green is nothing new to the United States Postal Service.® Although it’s not widely known, the Postal Service™ is a pioneer on the environmental and sustainability front. We’ve built efficiencies into all aspects of what we do, working toward zero waste within our organization.

We also have been studying our environmental impact and working with public and private partnerships, mailers, regulators, mailing industry groups, and environmental organizations for more than two decades to “green” the mail. As a result, most of the paper produced in the United States for mailing comes from managed forests that are completely designed to provide future paper.

And while mail is responsible for only 13 percent of the total amount of paper and paperboard discarded in the municipal waste stream annually in the United States today, we continue to work to reduce that percentage — and we’re seeing results.

In 2000, about one-third of all standard mail was recycled. But by 2007, that number had climbed to more than 40 percent, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. It’s a trend we expect to continue as the industry educates the public on the importance of recycling paper and as environmentally conscious consumers demand more earth-friendly options.

Ultimately, we’d like to see all mail recycled. And we believe that as marketers, it’s our responsibility to give consumers the tools they need to do so. That’s why we’ve placed recycling bins in more than 6,000 Post Office™ lobbies nationwide for our customers to use after they’ve read and acted upon their mail.

You can encourage your consumers to recycle their mail, too. It can be as simple as including a line on your mailer that directs recipients to Earth911.com to find the Post Office nearest them where they can recycle magazines, catalogs and mixed paper.

If you’re a Direct Marketing Association (DMA) member, display the organization’s “Recycle Please” campaign logo on your direct pieces to encourage recycling after reading. This is particularly important for recipients who know they can recycle newspapers but don’t know they can do the same with window envelopes, magazines and catalogs. The logo and other campaign materials are easily downloadable from the DMA’s website.

And make sure to promote your own environmental efforts. Do you use recycled paper and less toxic ink? If so, indicate that on your mailers. It’s another step toward helping to remove the notion that mail is bad for the environment.

The more you attempt to do this, the more you’ll enhance your direct mail efforts. Consumers not only will think more positively of the medium, but also of marketers. And that increases the chance that they’ll take positive action in response to your mail.

Michael Fanning is manager for environmental policy and programs at the United States Postal Service.®