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Stationery
There are plenty of opportunities to green your office stationery.
Paper
"The paperless office is as far away as the paperless toilet"!
When choosing a paper make sure think about the following:
- Buy recycled
- Buy chlorine free (TCF)
- Buy NZ made
- Look for an Environmental Label
Buy Recycled
You can choose between pre-consumer of post-consumer recycled content. The higher the recycled content the better, although some quality papers sometimes limit the recycled content to 80% as recycled paper fibre is shorter than virgin fibre!
Remember For every tonne of recycled paper we save 17 trees, 42,000kwh of electricity, 26,000 of water and about 27kgs of air pollutants (source Fuji Xerox).
- Pre-consumer
: Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process. The paper sourced from companies is generally of high quality, providing a regular supply and would otherwise be disposed if in the landfill, if it wasn't collected.
- Post-consumer
: Material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities. Much of this is collected as mixed grades of paper, which include newspaper, office paper, magazines and cardboard packaging.
Buy Chlorine Free
Elemental Chlorine Free (contains some chlorine derivatives) versus Totally Chlorine Free (TCF contains no chlorine compounds). Chlorine free may also be referred to as "Oxygen Bleached".
Buy New Zealand Made
There are a few papers still made in New Zealand. Some are recycled. In terms of transport usage, an Australian recycled paper would be the next best thing.
Look for an Environmental Label
Some papers come with an environmental label (e.g. Nordic Swan Environmental Label certification from Europe)
Remember: Reuse or recycle (where you cannot avoid) all waste paper. It means savings in stationery bills, as well as reduced disposal fees.
Letterhead, Business cards and other printed materials
A simple way of reducing the environmental impacts associated with printing of business cards, letterhead and other materials is to adopt a green print purchasing policy.
The printing industry uses hazardous chemicals for inks etc, requires energy and water, and generates waste. In encouraging cleaner practices, opportunities exist for printers to reduce the environmental and health and safety impacts, increase productivity and reduce cost. By specifying greener printing you can encourage printers to operate in a cleaner and safer standards. Printing Industries NZ has a downloadable guide in the Industry Links section of its web site.
The three ways of reducing the environmental impact associated with printing are:
Reassess if you really need to print!
- Can you use the Internet or e-mail instead?
- Is a printed document the right medium for your information?
Design your Document to reduce waste:
- Reduce your paper needs by maximising margins and avoid large amounts of colour to minimise ink requirements
- Choose the right paper for the job
- Avoid laminates & other toxic finishes
- Think about how you plan to distribute your finished product
Specify 'Green' Printing:
- Specify recycled paper with a high post-consumer content or chlorine free.
- Ask for mineral oil free inks (100% vegetable based ink)
- Use 100% recycled black ink
- Ask about safe cleaners - vegetable cleaning agents (VCA's)
Tell others about it!
- Always put an environmental message on your printed material
e.g. "Printed on recycled paper using mineral oil free inks".
Paper Correction Fluid
Some correction fluids contain hazardous solvents such as trichloroethylene. A few alternatives exist including:
- Opt for low toxic water-based correction fluid, or
- Simply avoid using it!
Envelopes
- Buy recycled content envelopes
- Select window envelopes that contain ‘glassine’, a wood fibre product, which is recyclable, as opposed to plastic windows.
- Use a reusable, resealable envelope for return mail rather than an additional ‘reply paid’ envelope.
- Print addresses directly onto the envelope to avoid self adhesive labels
- Purchase ‘reuse address labels’ to reuse envelopes.
Folders, file boxes, dividers etc
Folders (e.g. Binders, Lever arches or Ring binders)
- Buy cardboard rather than plastic binders
- Look for ones that use recycled card (no glues or solvents only sizing agents)
- Look for environmental certification (e.g. Blue Angle certification from Europe)
Indices & post-its
The general rules apply:
- Buy board or paper dividers rather than plastic
- Buy recycled card (no glues or solvents only sizing agents)
Pens & Pencils
- Buy refillable pens or pencils
- Encourage staff to label pens and to be responsible for not loosing them
Pen holders
Why not make your own out of:
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