Postal Service Scraps 15 Delivery Vehicles to Help Clean Air

In a move to reduce pollution, the U.S. Postal Service’s Long Beach district sent 15 delivery vehicles to a Wilmington junkyard Thursday for the engines to be crushed and recycled.

The disposal of the 1981 station wagons, which were used to deliver millions of letters in the Long Beach area, is part of its environmental program to reduce automobile emissions. The Postal Service is testing electric delivery vehicles in Harbor City.

“We could have sold the vehicles to the public,” said Joe Wilson, manager of operations for the district, “but we wanted to get these gross polluters off the road.”

The Postal Service has one of the nation’s largest compressed natural gas delivery fleets, with 6,900 vehicles. Wilson said it is trying to dispose of its old models, whose engines emit more smog than newer vehicles, in order to do its share in cleaning the air.

The Postal Service received $500 for each station wagon given to the Old Vehicle Clearinghouse Clean Air Program. The private agency usually receives funds from local companies to purchase private vehicles made between 1975 and 1981 and in return issues them credit to fulfill their air-quality target goals.

According to Glendale-based Clearinghouse, vehicles built before 1982 produce five to 10 times more pollution than newer models and estimates that five cars can produce about one ton of smog.

Companies with more than 250 employees are required to participate in pollution reducing programs that include ride-sharing or the disposal of old vehicles.

Catherine Drummond, manager of administration for the 3-year-old program, said many large companies in Southern California have sold vehicles to the program to satisfy their requirements including the American Red Cross, IBM, Ralphs and Vons.