- The Washington Times - Friday, December 6, 2013

Looks as if a Postal Service facility forgot a key part of reducing waste — recycling.

Investigators say that an Atlanta sorting facility ditched 20 of its mail loaders, labeling them as lost, stolen, destroyed or not found.

“We estimate the Postal Service lost at least $26,700 in scrap value for this equipment,” said the U.S. Postal Service’s inspector general, the organization’s watchdog.

Even without scrapping the loaders, officials could have tried to sell them, trade them in for a discount on new ones or keep them around to use for spare parts for functioning loaders, the inspector general said.

The equipment is used to load and unload containers the Postal Service uses to transport mail. The ones at the Atlanta facility cost $42,200 each when they were purchased in 1996, the inspector general said.

Atlanta officials said they would provide additional training to employees by the end of the year on how dispose of equipment.

The inspector general noted the facility did properly dispose of an additional 15 loaders.

• Phillip Swarts can be reached at pswarts@washingtontimes.com.

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