Saving Earth and Agency

Dianne Shoaf has been called a hero, but she does not want all the credit. 

“Postal employees are really the heroes,” says Shoaf, who won the White House’s 2012 Sustainability Hero Award for her efforts coordinating the Lean Green Team at the U.S. Postal Service. 

The team spearheads “low- and no-cost projects” to reduce USPS’ environmental impact, some as simple as encouraging colleagues to turn off lights and equipment. The projects paid off, generating $24 million in fiscal 2012 from recycling initiatives alone. 

Shoaf says employees have demonstrated an interest in making USPS more sustainable. 

“They really want to do what’s right,” she says. “They really want to do what they can to reduce waste at the Postal Service.” 

The Lean Green initiative was launched in 2009 as a pilot program at the agency’s Washington headquarters. Initially, executives at USPS—which lost $15.9 billion in fiscal 2012—were hesitant to launch a nationwide program. 

“Due to our financial situation, the Postal Service is understandably very cautious about making financial commitments,” Shoaf explains. 

Ultimately, the initiative proved its worth and the program expanded. There are now more than 1,300 Lean Green teams, which are organized at the facility level. Employees have their own online tracking tools to monitor their progress toward meeting team goals. 

The Postal Service has to look at “how we impact the communities we serve and . . . what kind of footprint we leave,” Shoaf says, as well as “how we create value for our customers and manage risk in order to sustain the Postal Service for future generations.”