INTERNATIONAL Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 and the South African Post Office has collaborated with other state-owned entities for the transport of mail items between major centres.
According to post office spokesperson, Johan Kruger, this will eliminate the duplication of routes and will substantially reduce carbon emissions. “It will greatly improve delivery times,” he said.
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Kruger noted that carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is a major contributor to climate change due to its increased warming of the globe.
“Reducing energy and water consumption reduces costs as well as emissions. Something that the SA Post Office achieved despite delivering above 300 million items during the 2021/22 financial year,” said Kruger.
He added that in a country where electricity is generated mainly by coal-fired power stations, reducing power consumption greatly reduces air pollution. He said this was achieved by using power-saving devices such as LED light bulbs wherever possible.
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Kruger admitted that the one area where the Post Office failed to reach its target was paper consumption.
“The entity used 218 tons of paper during the year, failing to achieve its target of fewer than 116 tons. This is despite the improvement of online meetings, which has greatly reduced the reliance on paper usage in presentations and for signatures. On the other hand, recycling waste paper recycling was achieved by 1% above a target of 120 tons,” he said.
In addition, during the financial year, the post office embarked on a project to plant 5 000 spekbooms trees across the regions to offset the carbon emissions emitted in the past year.
“Employees of the post office joined hands with their local schools to plant the indigenous trees and help clean the polluted air,” he said.
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