Recycle your junk mail

    The “Three Rs” take on a more modern meaning with a new program that allows Post Office Box customers in YOUR TOWN to recycle their mail.
    The Post Office Box Lobby Recycling program is available in 5,900 post offices across the country, including more than 300 right here in Maine.
    The Postal Service has a long and proud environmental record, and has recycled millions of tons of paper, plastic and other materials during the past 15 years. The PO Box Lobby Recycling program builds on the tremendous success of similar programs that have been ongoing in the northeast part of the country for more than 10 years.
    Mail is recyclable. In fact, nationally, more than 35 percent of mail is recycled each year, providing an important source of paper and post-consumer paper products.
    The Post Office Box Lobby Recycling program places secure recycling bins in Post Office lobbies. All bins are locked with a key and the opening is slim-about the width of a news magazine. PO Box customers are encouraged to remove and open their mail (read), take whatever action is necessary (respond) and simply place the rest of their mail into the bin (recycle).
    This program has been thoroughly tested and presents no risk to mail security or customer privacy and does not effect postal operations or costs.
    Each year, the Postal Service purchases more than $200 million in products containing recycled content. Many of the containers that hold and move mail in our system are made from recycled materials, as are stamped envelopes, postcards, stamp booklet covers-even the adhesive used in postage stamps is biodegradable. And the Postal Service is the only shipping company in the country to earn Cradle to Cradle certification for all Priority Mail and Express Mail packages and envelopes, based on the environmental attributes of the materials.
    Remember: It’s only ‘junk’ if it ends up in a landfill..