No longer is the postie just the person who gets your letters and parcels from A to B, the humble postie has joined the fight against climate change.
Employees from Royal Mail, Post Office Ltd and Parcelforce Worldwide are signing up to a newly launched scheme to offset their carbon emissions.
Staff who join the initiative will make regular tax-free donations directly from their wage packets to the Woodland Trust, enabling the charity to plant and look after thousands of trees in the UK.
Royal Mail has developed its own carbon calculator, “Ollie”, which asks employees about their home energy usage, car and air travel before calculating how many trees will need to be planted to offset their emissions.
They can also get tips on reducing their carbon footprint.
It is believed to be the first time a company's employees have been able to take part in such a scheme, and the Woodland Trust is challenging other businesses to follow Royal Mail's example.
Clare Allen, head of corporate partnerships at the Woodland Trust, said: "The excellent start this scheme has had with Royal Mail shows its employees are eager to do their bit to help the environment and reduce their carbon emissions.
"The Woodland Trust would like to thank them for their support."
Ms Allen added: "Planting trees creates vital habitats for more species than any other, traps pollution, generates oxygen, stabilises soil and forms a stunning part of our landscape.
"And yet woods are scarce, with only 12% of the UK wooded, compared to 46% on average in Europe."
The scheme is the brainchild of Dr Martin Blake, head of sustainability at Royal Mail Group.
"This unique product provides our people with the opportunity to ethically and appropriately offset their residual carbon emissions in what is the final step in a process of reduction," he said.
"What we are doing is spreading the word about a sustainable environment, not just giving people a way to offset."
It must be said thought what it would rather be nice if, instead of talking all the good talk that DR Blake was giving, he would encourage Royal Mail to really be caring for a sustainable environment by stopping the delivery of junk mail to people's letterboxes, the kind of junk mail that has no addressee on it but that is being carried by the postie on behalf of “post office advertising sales” or whatever that department may be called.
I know I have it heard being said by Royal Mail that has to carry such real spam mail (at least in cyberspace we can have spam filters and many of them actually work quite well) or that they would have to increase the postal rates otherwise. Firstly, Royal Mail keeps putting up the charges regardless because it appears not to be making enough profit for its shareholders, unlike New Zealand Post which, so I have been told, has actually reduced the charges twice by now and it making profit. But then, I guess, like with everything that is in the UK: while other postal services may be able to make profit and even reduce the rates this could never work in Britain because Britain is different.
It is all nice and fine talking about carbon footprint reduction of Royal Mail and its associated companies, but it is all nothing but hot air as long as Royal Mail keeps delivering unwanted bulk mail to households and businesses.
Michael Smith, January 2008
Posties plant trees to fight climate change
