TNT Post to launch UK's first addressed carbon neutral mailing service
On 23 June, TNT Post launches the UK's first carbon neutral mailing service, CarbonNeutral, for business addressed mail. The new service will enable organisations to evaluate, reduce and offset the carbon emissions related to their mailings.
TNT Post's new service is in response to the Government's target of reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and the DMA's 2003 landmark carbon reducing agreement with the Government, which commits the direct marketing industry to change environmental behaviour over the next 10 years. These aim to reduce landfill to benefit the environment, whilst also leading to more effectively targeted direct marketing.
TNT Post customers will be able to access a web-based carbon calculator at www.tntpost.co.uk, developed by The CarbonNeutral Company and Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management, to measure the carbon impact of all contributing mail fulfilment elements used to produce and deliver their own mailings.
The calculator takes into account the entire mailing chain: from the type of paper, ink and packaging used, to the fulfilment, data cleansing, undeliverables capturing, transportation and delivery of each mail item. The result is a calculation of mailing emissions, broken down into carbon contributing factors. Once identified, TNT Post recommends how these individual carbon levels can be reduced. For example, it will highlight the importance of using recycled materials for mailings and recommend suppliers who can print on sustainable and recycled materials - including Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) sourced paper for existing mail packs. Additionally, advice, through recommended consultants, can be provided on database cleansing and the capture of undeliverable information. This will show how improved data can impact and benefit an organisation's carbon bottom-line, as the number of items which are not received or wanted are reduced.
Sue Welland, founder and creative director of The CarbonNeutral Company, comments:
"We work with organisations everyday to reduce their own carbon footprints. By working with TNT Post, we have the potential to help several more organisations, ranging from blue chip to SMEs to local councils, across the TNT Post customer base to reduce their carbon footprints. If all of TNT Post's customers sending addressed mail were to use the CarbonNeutral service which we underpin, there is the potential to make 160 million postal items a month CarbonNeutral; which will make great strides in reaching the direct mail industry's carbon emission goals."
The new CarbonNeutral mailing service also highlights the importance of encouraging end-user recycling with the Recycle Now logo on all mailings and associated material.
Emissions that cannot be eliminated or reduced in this evaluation process are offset in carbon saving projects managed by The CarbonNeutral Company. TNT Post has reserved carbon credits in various offset projects for its customers, including: a hydro power project in China and a methane capture scheme in The Netherlands.
Items that are deemed carbon neutral through TNT Post's new service will be identified as such with an exclusive TNT Post CarbonNeutral mailing mark stamped onto each item. Organisations achieving the CarbonNeutral mailing status will also receive a certificate accrediting the carbon savings.
Nick Wells, chief executive of TNT Post comments:
"TNT Post's new service is the next step in TNT Post's commitment to becoming the lowest emission mail company, through our Planet Me programme*. Our goals are in line with the DMA's carbon emissions agreement, and at the core is an aim to help the industry reduce carbon emissions and promote recycling - both in terms of mailing with recycled materials and influencing end customers to recycle mail items."
"We want to help organisations consider how their carbon footprints can be reduced. The removal of carbon emissions reduces the need to offset, which is ultimately better for the environment. This is critical to the industry meeting its recycling targets of 55 per cent by 2009 from its 2007 position of just 29 per cent.**"
The launch of the carbon neutral mailing service follows the introduction of TNT Post's Mobile Carbon Calculator for employees in March 2008 which allows individuals to calculate and measure personal carbon emissions, access tips to reduce their footprint, and offset through the Woodland Trust's tree planting programme.
The new service will complement TNT Post's existing mailing services - Premier, PremierSort, and Allsort - but with the additional benefit of a carbon neutral logo to show that their customers are working towards a better environment.
