Environmentally preferable products can often be purchased at little or no increase in cost. In addition, paper use can often be decreased by taking a few simple steps, such as double-siding copies and reducing the number of printers in use. These measures can reduce your company’s overall paper budget.

Consider contacting your team’s current paper suppliers to ask about environmentally preferable alternatives to products that you are currently buying. The specifications below provide a useful guide when speaking to suppliers.

For the least environmental impact, try to reduce paper use. When you must use paper, paper goods should have the following:

• Highest feasible percentage of post-consumer recycled content
• Chlorine-free bleaching process
• Wood fiber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council
• Mercury-free pulping caustic

For more detailed paper procurement specifications, see this sample procurement policy

In addition to the specifications below, you may want to consult NRDC’s Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products for a complete listing of preferable household tissue products. Conservatree's Recycled Products Catalog also contains several preferable options for a range of different paper types, and the EPA’s Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Database is an excellent resource for product specifications and contract language for a wide variety of additional products.

Sample contract language – copy paper
Sample contract language – all paper products

Dear _______,

In an effort to improve the environmental performance of our team, we would like to meet to discuss the environmental attributes of the paper products that you are currently supplying. We would also like to discuss ways to cost-effectively switch to less harmful paper products within the next few years.

We are aware that the world-wide demand for paper products creates incentives for harvesting and manufacturing practices that are harmful to the environment. We would like to reduce as much as possible the harmful environmental impacts associated with our paper consumption. We are particularly interested in improving the following attributes of the paper we buy:

• Post-consumer recycled content
• Forest Stewardship Council certification
• Chlorine-free bleaching processes
• Mercury-free pulping caustic

Please call me as soon as you can so that we can set a time for a meeting to pursue this discussion.

Very Truly Yours,

The virgin paper industry is the leading consumer and polluter of freshwater and the third-largest industrial emitter of greenhouse gasses. Moreover, it is responsible for the destruction of millions of acres of forest habitat and add pressure leading to the extinction of countless species. By purchasing paper products made with recycled fiber, chlorine-free bleaching, and Forest Stewardship Council-certified virgin fiber, you help to reduce the pollution of freshwater, the emission of greenhouse gasses, and the harvesting of forests. Paper made with recycled content protects habitats, produces significantly less air and water pollution and uses less energy than paper made from virgin fibers.

NRDC – Paper Resources
Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products
Environmental Paper Network
EPA – Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines
National Recycling Coalition – Growing a Buy-Recycled Program: A Manager’s Guide
A Common Vision for Transforming the Paper Industry
Environmental Benefits and Cost Savings Calculator for Purchasers
American Recycling Markets, Inc – Recycled Products Guide