UPS is working to shrink our environmental footprint. This means reducing the resources we consume as well as cutting the waste associated with our operations.

Consider the impact of our package-flow initiative — a four-year project launched in 2003 — which is overhauling the way UPS sorts and delivers packages in the United States. Although the program isn’t driven by environmental objectives, the green impact is nevertheless unmistakable.

Simply put, it’s all about the information. More efficient package flow depends on more efficient flow of package information.

Dual benefits

Every time your UPS driver scans a package with one of those handheld, computerized tablets, detailed information is uploaded to the UPS network. As part of our package-flow initiative, we figured out a way to put this information to even better use by building our own sophisticated software programs to model the package data.

You already know about how our software automates the optimal placement of packages in our cars, enabling UPS drivers to quickly deliver the right packages in the right order. But the detailed information about each package entering the UPS network also lets our local operations managers map out the shortest, most efficient delivery routes.

The efficiency effect

Hours before drivers begin their routes, our new software gathers the information about incoming packages and calculates optimal routes, being careful to balance loads among various drivers. This automation

We have replaced the clipboards and paper with electronic handheld computers. We estimate that this switch has saved more than 5,100 trees in 43 countries.

has optimized delivery routes, improved delivery accuracy and increased the number of packages delivered per route.

The Efficiency Effect goes well beyond the walls of our company. When package-flow technologies are fully implemented, we expect to reduce the total mileage of our package cars by tens of millions of miles annually.

We also expect to save millions of gallons of fuel annually and reduce annual carbon-dioxide emissions by more than 100,000 metric tons. And that’s just in the United States. Other locations in our operations around the globe could be the next to experience the environmental benefits of more efficient deliveries.

A smaller footprint

In other ways both big and small, UPS is working to shrink our environmental footprint. This means reducing the resources we consume as well as cutting the waste associated with our operations.

Methane-powered electricity from human and animal waste isn't the only alternative source of electricity flowing into UPS facilities. Our sorting facility in Palm Springs, California, gets 70% of its power from solar panels.

Since its deployment in July 2003, the solar initiative has produced 523,000 kilowatt-hours of energy and reduced carbon-dioxide output by one million pounds.

Other examples

Around the world in recent years, we have replaced the clipboards and paper UPS drivers used to carry with electronic handheld computers. We estimate that this switch from paper has saved more than 5,100 trees in 43 countries.

We regressed on some key environmental measures, due in part to our efforts to accelerate delivery times on some of our key ground routes.

Since 2000, UPS has also recycled 16.9 million pounds of electronic equipment from our operations, reducing the risk of landfill contaminations.

The simple act of switching from one-use plastic bags to reusable bags in our sorting facilities in the United States and Germany has prevented more than 36,000 tons of plastic from entering landfills in the past decade.

We introduced the industry’s first Reusable Next Day Air envelope in 1998 and have deployed other examples of recycled packaging throughout the company.

Strong measures

There’s only one way to know whether the initiatives we are implementing are really reducing our impact on the environment — and that’s to look at the numbers. At UPS, we have established several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to measure and track our progress from year to year.

Since 2002, UPS has tracked a number of KPIs, including:

•	Total Ground Fuel Consumption Per Package

•	Global Aircraft Emissions

•	Water Consumption

•	Greenhouse Gas Emissions Footprint

•	Number of Reportable Spill Incidents to Federal or State Agency

•	Percent of Air Fleet That Meets Stage IV Noise Reductions

Monitoring progress

Not only do we measure our environmental performance, we put the results out there for everyone to see. UPS was the first company in our industry to

When package-flow technologies are fully implemented, we expect to reduce the total mileage of our package cars by tens of millions of miles annually.

issue an annual Corporate Sustainability Report.

Think of it as an annual report card on corporate citizenship, with environmental progress as one of the three key components of the report. Since we began tracking our environmental impact, we have made significant strides in areas like fuel consumption per package and emissions.

But in our most recent report for the year 2005, our results were mixed. We regressed on some key environmental measures, due in part to our efforts to accelerate delivery times on some of our key ground routes.

Continual reductions

Although we might not always like what they tell us, the numbers are keeping us focused. UPS has a lot more work to do to reduce our impact on the environment. We will continue to analyze what works — which initiatives are effective, economical and measurable — and fix those that don’t.