NZ Post will make all its person to person sending of mail and parcels carbon neutral.
For any domestic or international letter or parcel, NZ Post has calculated the carbon emitted on its journey. In addition, it has taken steps to reduce emissions and offset the remaining unavoidable emissions. This includes carbon emitted through the entire lifecycle of the packaging. In other words, all the way from production to recycling or landfilling. This includes processing, transportation and delivery of the parcel or mail item. NZ Post calculates the carbon emitted whether you use NZ Post packaging or your own.
David Walsh, chief executive of NZ Post, says, “This is just one step in our journey to be a fully carbon neutral business from 2030.
Carbon neutral
“Being carbon neutral means the negative impact our person to person sending has on the environment has been offset. Therefore, it becomes neutral. We’re proud that sending by everyday New Zealanders will be carbon neutral. However, this doesn’t include business customers who each have their own journey to carbon neutrality.
“That means it will arrive at its destination with a carbon neutral impact. You could be booking a courier to pick up a parcel. Or you might be walking into a PostShop to send a present to your Grandparents up North. You could even be posting a letter to a friend down South.
“We’re reducing our emissions in a few different ways. We’re introducing more electric vehicles to our fleet. In addition, we’re supporting our contractors to get into electric vehicles. Also, we are making our sorting depots more energy efficient. Moreover, we have recently changed our packaging to a lower emissions material.
“We offset our unavoidable carbon emissions through buying carbon credits. We obtain these from local native forestry projects and international gold standard projects.
“In the first year of offering carbon neutral sending we expect to offset around 17,000 tonnes of carbon. This is equivalent to 22,813 car trips from Cape Reinga to Bluff and back. On the other hand, you could take 7,870 cars off the road.”
Carbon neutral sending applies to all consumer products. This includes ParcelPost and BYO packaging parcels sent in NewZealand and overseas. Further, it applies when customers arrange sending online such as with Print Postage online, Send it Now, and TradeMe Book A Courier.
