To Ship or Not to Ship

Date: September 11, 2007 | Category: Events, Lifestyle, Stores & Resources, Transport

The Post Office is the second largest employer in the United States (after Walmart) - so when they team up with McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) to get “Cradle to Cradle” certification for all their shipping materials, it’s no small win for the environment. 1,400 ingredients that go into 60 packaging items were analyzed for their human and environmental health attributes, taking into consideration 39 criteria such as toxicity, renewable energy and recyclability. Mailing supplies such as labels and packing tape (of which 200 million pieces are used annually) were also examined, and the result is a Silver Certification from MBDC that should save more than 15,000 metric tons of carbon equivalent emissions each year (based on the recycled content). It’s nice to see a very ungreen industry - that of shipping goods to and fro - taking steps to be better stewards of the Earth. Don’t forget, however, each year America dumps 2 billion tons of mail into landfills. Keeping it local is still the most eco option.

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