As the primary mail carrier in the United States, USPS’ mission is to provide the nation with affordable and universal mail service. USPS’ authority was revised on December 20, 2006, with the enactment of the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act. Through this act, Congress provided USPS with tools and mechanisms to help ensure that USPS is efficient, flexible, and financially sound. The act also introduced a rate cap for many postal services. While Congress oversees USPS and provides direction to the agency on its operations and other matters, USPS receives only a small portion of its funding from federal appropriations. According to a 2001 Mailing Industry Task Force study, the mailing industry includes businesses, organizations, and other parties (mailers) that send and rely on mail to maintain contact with their customers. The mailing industry also encompasses mail preparers, including printers and businesses that send or receive mail on behalf of a third party. Vendors and suppliers of the hardware, software, and labor related to mail processing, such as companies who help mailers improve the accuracy of their mailing lists, also are included in the mailing industry, according to this study. USPS offers several classes of mail, including First-Class, Standard, and Periodical Mail. The price for each class of mail varies, as does the level of service that USPS provides. Mailers, including both household and business customers, use First-Class Mail when sending personal mail and personalized business correspondence, such as letters, greeting cards, bills, and account statements. Mailers also may use First-Class Mail to send advertisements and merchandise. Standard Mail is the primary mail class for advertisements sent in bulk quantities and cannot be used for sending personal correspondence, such as handwritten letters, bills, or account statements. Periodical Mail primarily is comprised of newspapers and magazines. Standard Mail rates are generally lower than First-Class Mail rates, in part, because USPS typically does not provide services such as return-to-sender and forwarding for UAA Standard Mail. USPS and the mailing industry view Standard Mail as an important advertising medium for businesses, non-profit organizations, and other parties who seek to inform mail recipients about their products and services or to solicit contributions. While USPS currently receives about half of its revenue from First-Class Mail, Standard Mail became the largest class of mail (by volume) in fiscal year 2005. During 2005, mailers spent about $56.6 billion on direct mail advertising—comprising about 21 percent of all U.S. expenditures for advertising. USPS expects the volume of Standard Mail to continue to grow. UAA mail is mail that USPS cannot deliver to a specified address due to an incomplete, illegible, or incorrect address or insufficient postage, among other reasons. USPS’ treatment of UAA mail depends on the mail class. USPS forwards UAA First-Class Mail to the addressee, returns it to the sender, or, if the return address is missing, sends it to a USPS Mail Recovery Center. In general, USPS retains UAA Standard Mail and treats it as waste. Because of the large volume of UAA Standard Mail that USPS discards annually (about 317,000 tons in 2006), USPS focuses most of its mail-related recycling efforts on this material. USPS also treats the mail discarded by recipients in postal facility lobbies (discarded lobby mail) as waste. While USPS does not know how much mail post office box holders and other recipients discard in its lobbies, a USPS official stated that the amount is “trivial” relative to its total volume of mail-related waste. USPS has reported that mixed paper (i.e., UAA mailpieces, including newsprint, and discarded lobby mail) accounts for up to 70 percent of its waste stream. According to USPS, these materials can be used to make everything from low-grade paper products, such as hand towels and tablet backings, to wallboard and stock for fuel pellets that can be burned with coal to reduce harmful air emissions. Furthermore, according to the agency, the large volume of its UAA mail is an attractive and reliable source of clean mixed paper needed for manufacturing these and other products. A USPS-sponsored study reported that in fiscal year 2004, UAA mail cost the agency more than $1.8 billion, which represented about 2.6 percent of USPS’ total expenses (approximately $69 billion). About two-thirds of UAA mail costs resulted from forwarding mail to the intended recipients ($422 million—23 percent) or returning it to the sender ($822 million—44 percent). The remaining one-third of UAA mail costs are the result of processing waste ($270 million—15 percent), correcting addresses ($197 million—10 percent), processing address change requests ($132 million—7 percent), and general administration and support ($24 million—1 percent). Furthermore, according to USPS, creating and sending mail that cannot be delivered costs businesses more than $2 billion annually. With the exception of UAA Standard Mail, the responsibility for recycling discarded mail primarily lies with mail recipients. While the majority of mail is recyclable, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, mail recipients and others recycled only about 39 percent of the Standard Mail they received and subsequently discarded in 2006. Studies find that the volume of products recycled depend on, among other matters, whether a recipient knows that a product is recyclable and whether the recipient has access to a recycling program or facility. According to one study, over 40 percent of the public are unaware that it can recycle mail. Numerous stakeholders we interviewed confirmed this lack of recycling awareness. Even if individuals are aware that mail is recyclable, according to a 2005 survey conducted by the American Forest and Paper Association, residents in about 31 percent of U.S. communities (14 percent of the population) do not have access to paper recycling programs. In addition, while a 2006 survey by the Federal Trade Commission found that only a small number of victims (2 percent) reported that the theft of their identify was connected to the mail, several stakeholders told us that identity theft concerns prevent some recipients from recycling their mail. In December 2006, we reported on efforts to increase the volume of materials recycled and found that, to increase recycling, U.S. municipalities need to conduct public education campaigns and ensure that access to recycling is both convenient and easy. Further, we identified federal policy options that would help municipalities increase the volume of materials recycled, including the establishment of (1) a nationwide education campaign to inform the public about recycling and (2) programs that enable consumers to recycle products by returning them to the manufacturer or some other party for recycling. These programs are known as “take-back” programs. USPS and the mailing industry formed a Greening the Mail Task Force in 1996 to identify cost-effective ways to integrate environmental considerations into mailing practices and business processes. The task force issued a final report of its activities in 1999, including its efforts to identify “green” mail attributes (environmentally preferable attributes). According to the task force, environmentally preferable mail includes, among other attributes: Mail that contains recycled paper. Mail that uses certified paper. Mail that is designed to use materials efficiently (such as “two-way” envelopes). Mail that is accurately addressed for delivery. Mail that is targeted to recipients who may wish to receive it. USPS’ Environmental Policy and Programs organization is principally responsible for increasing the agency’s recycling of mail-related materials and is the focal point for executing its environmental policy throughout the agency. USPS also has organizations that, among their other responsibilities, attempt to increase the amount of mail with environmentally preferable attributes. For example, Address Management’s goal is to decrease the amount of UAA mail. To accomplish this, the organization provides mailers with tools to better manage the quality of their mailing lists while, according to USPS, striving to maximize its ability to efficiently deliver mail as addressed. The Product Development organization within Marketing helps manufacturers develop mail-related products that contain recycled materials. Finally, USPS’ Sales organization—also within Marketing—promotes the use of environmental preferable attributes in direct mail advertising and in USPS shipping materials. USPS and the mailing industry have undertaken numerous initiatives to increase the recycling of mail-related materials and increase the amount of mail with environmentally preferable attributes. For example, USPS has undertaken five key mail-related recycling initiatives, including the establishment of annual goals to increase its recycling revenue from $7.5 million in fiscal year 2007 to $40 million in fiscal year 2010 and a pilot recycling program in New York City. Representatives of the mailing industry and other stakeholders also have undertaken a wide range of initiatives to, among other actions, increase the amount of mail that is recycled. For example, three mailing industry associations recently introduced separate recycling awareness campaigns to encourage mail recipients to recycle their catalogs, envelopes, and magazines. In addition, the Direct Marketing Association—whose members collectively send about 80 percent of all Standard Mail—is undertaking several initiatives, including an effort to encourage mailers to use environmentally preferable mail attributes. USPS has undertaken five key initiatives to increase its recycling of mail- related materials. Specifically, USPS recently (1) established goals for increasing its recycling revenue; (2) refocused its attention on environmental matters, including mail-related recycling, and intends to require recycling where cost-effective and feasible; (3) consolidated waste management contracts to generate increased recycling revenues and reduce its waste disposal costs; (4) launched a pilot recycling program in New York City; and (5) implemented tools to track the environmental performance of its areas and districts. While USPS recently established goals for increasing its recycling revenues, inconsistencies in the way USPS collects data, if not resolved, will hamper efforts to measure its progress in meeting these goals.