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Interviewee: Jim French
Sustainability Integration Specialist
United States Postal Service
Interviewer: David Corsar, NWF
David Corsar: What is your role with the USPS and why did you choose to work there?
Jim French: My current role is Sustainability Integration Specialist in the Office of Sustainability. In this office there are three teams: environmental compliance (enforces compliance with environmental rules and regulations in our facilities), a second team concentrates on energy conservation (electricity, vehicle fuel usage, heating and cooling systems), and a third group leads corporate sustainability initiatives by engaging employees in reducing waste to landfill, conserving water, recycling of waste materials, conserving energy, and minimizing consumption of supplies such as paper towels, plastic, and ink cartridges. We also manage an employee recognition program that presents awards to 10 outstanding sustainability teams every year.
A big part of my job is to support formation of green teams. We have over 30,000 facilities and we now have 1,350 green teams who are implementing more than 40 projects to conserve our natural resources around the country. These cross-functional teams identify local opportunities to reduce waste and then implement local solutions such as recycling or fixing leaking faucets. We’ve also developed online tracking tools to monitor what projects have been completed and what impacts they have had on their facilities. This performance data is available to every facility at the touch of a button without them having to prepare custom reports. The online Green Initiative Tracking Tool plays a critical role in supporting green teams, so they can focus on implementing activities rather than preparing long reports. There are no full-time employees dedicated to green teams so everything is volunteer driven.
I also am responsible for developing on-line training and employee engagement related to sustainability for green team members, managers, maintenance staff, and others who are involved in operations.
DC: What project or projects are on the horizon that a new hire might be involved in if they pursued a career in sustainability at USPS?
JF: We are implementing a National Recycling Operation to capture waste from our 30,000 facilities so it does not end up in landfills. This $33 million effort is equipping 200 mail processing plants around the country with heavy duty compactors. Each “hub” plant gathers recycled materials (mostly paper) from the post offices they serve. Since our delivery vehicles are relatively empty when they return to the plant, we use available space to bring back recyclable materials. This “backhaul” system does not incur extra transport costs and generates approximately 220 million tons of recyclable material per year that is sold on the open market. This benefits the communities we serve by diverting waste from local landfills and we are generating needed revenue for the Postal Service. In this case, doing good for the environment is also good for business.
So, we have serious financial drivers for sustainability initiatives and there are opportunities for expanding this in the future. The challenge is how to get the various Postal functions engaged in initiating these changes not just related to recycling but also energy conservation, water conservation, and reduction of vehicle fuel consumption with more efficient vehicles. The Lean Green Teams have a key role to play at the local level.
Also, as we move into the future, we will need new employees with creative ideas to leverage alternative energy sources such as wind and solar and well as new thinking on how to do a better job of procuring “green” products and minimize all sources of waste in our operations.
DC: What would you say to students and young professionals interested in going Purchasing and Business Services today?
JF: I see [the EcoLeaders] Career Center being developed on your webpage as having potential for encouraging careers related to sustainable management of our natural resources. I think the whole area of sustainability – whether in federal, municipal government, state government, or the private sector – has huge opportunities in environmentally preferred purchasing (EPP). Because we tend to waste so much of our resources we are a target-rich environment for better managing our supply chains and reducing our waste streams.
In addition to protection of the natural environment, there’s also a corporate sustainability angle – how do organizations continue to function with fewer resources? People who want to answer this question are not necessarily interested in saving trees in the forest. Work in a corporate setting also presents opportunities to protect resources by consuming less. A lot of the same drivers for resource conservation exist in corporations; it’s just not quite as romantic as saving the Amazon.
DC: What should students study? And are there particular credentials of relevance to employers?
JF: I think, it is important to have a basic technical foundation in science, business, and economics, but that’s not sufficient in itself. I worked in Asia for 25 years and took breaks for school based on what I was learning on the job. With an undergraduate degree in Southeast Asian studies it was hard to find jobs in the U.S. so I took an entry-level job in extension education in Southeast Asia. This evolved into exciting work in campaign planning, organizational development and adult education which eventually brought me back to the United States. Just last year, I went back to school and got a master’s degree in natural resource management with a focus on sustainability which is where I am now. The lesson for me is to get a basic educational foundation, find an entry level job where you can get experience, and then follow your passion by gathering additional skills and training needed to pursue new opportunities.
Many universities now have degrees in sustainability or as a concentration when you major in something else. There are also various certification programs related to sustainability and resource conservation, such as the one being developed by the International Society of Sustainability Professionals (ISSP). I think having technical training is helpful but implementation of large sustainability initiatives also requires soft skills such as communication and how to facilitate collaboration among the different types of people who need to be involved in planning and implementing sustainability initiatives.
DC: How does hands-on conservation experience, or experiential learning for students make a difference when hiring?
JF: There are some outstanding programs going on that have volunteer and entry-level learning opportunities. An example is the Oyster Recovery Project (ORP) in Virginia. It started off as a small non-profit organization to reconstruct oyster reefs in the Chesapeake Bay. The person that leads this organization is an outstanding example of the power of engaging diverse organizations based on an elegantly simple mission of “oysters in the bay”. Partner organizations, each of which have volunteer opportunities, include the University of Maryland, non-profit foundations, conservationists, restaurants, watermen, farmers, underwater mapping experts, researchers, oyster breeders, poultry producers, politicians, and many others. This little project has had a greater impact on the Chesapeake Bay than many multi-million dollar initiatives taken on by larger organizations. For people interested in natural resource management, small dedicated organizations like ORP are really good entry points. The sort of hands-on experience you get in an organization like this is valuable not only for your resume but also to help you tap into a network or related organizations with related missions.
DC: How might certification as NWF EcoLeaders make a difference to employers?
JF: Leadership is a key factor in implementation of sustainability initiatives because they typically involve building relations among diverse stakeholders. Being a NWF EcoLeader demonstrates readiness to volunteer and innovate. For example, in our office, we need more than book learning. We need people with skills in working together and building bridges with partner organizations. Employers know the importance of team work and informal influence to get the job done.
I think if a person had [an EcoLeaders certification], it would be a boost. We need people who have some basic technical background in environmental protection, but more importantly, we need people who know how to lead cross-functional teams to identify a common direction, align the people with tasks that leverage their strengths, ensure that there is commitment to get the job done, and set up mechanisms for monitoring and continuous improvement.
It’s a triangle. Employers want people who can work in a team to develop goals, strategies, and concrete actions – these are exactly the kinds of things we would want our Lean Green Team members to do. These are the soft skills that I would be looking for in EcoLeaders.
If you would like to know more about what we are doing in the Postal Service to promote sustainability and how we prepare green team leaders, feel free to contact Jim French at james.h.french@usps.gov.
Thanks for the opportunity to talk today and good luck in your efforts!
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Category Career Center Resources
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