UPS talks a big game in regards to the environment, but a quick look around any center/hub will show you that it is mostly just that, talk. Recycling is for the most part non-existent. I have suggested on many occasions that my center make more of an effort to recycle within the building, even just the basics of paper/plastic, but to date everything ends up in the same dumpster (I will admit that cardboard is separated and placed in a separate dumpster.) One of the biggest wastes is the seemingly endless copies of material that most of us drivers find to be clutter put in our slots each day which are glanced at and then thrown away. I do realize that there will be those employees who will disregard the purpose of the individual bins and will see them all as trash cans and use them accordingly, if they use them at all as we all see our co-workers who think that the floor is their trash can because they know that the cleaning crew will take care of it for them. However, I do know that a good percentage of my co-workers would use the bins properly and reduce the amount of trash which ultimately ends up in the landfill.
Going green at the pump should not be as big a deal as UPS makes it out to be. Biodiesel, CNG, flexfuels, propane, hydrogen, etc., are all viable alternative fuel sources which are becoming more readily available and, due to our position in the industry, we should be in the forefront of pursuing changes in the way we fuel our vehicles. We should also be looking for alternative fuels for our aircraft. Virgin Airways recently flew a plane across the Atlantic using alternative fuels as a portion of the overall fuel supply. (I think it was 20%).
People, as well as business, tend to embrace changes slowly (remember the way that us "old-timers" reacted to going to the DIAD--"what, no paper?!") but I feel that the way that our economy is going down the tubes you will see more of a concerted effort to save money, which will include a push toward the use of alternative fuels.