Issue 11. 9 August 2010.pdf - UWA Staff - The University of Western ...

Paper chase:
recycling wins the campus race
The paperless society never eventuated.
The advent of computers actually meant more paper was being
used, to the point where paper and printing policies are
becoming more important than ever.
The argument continues on which is more sustainable: recycled
paper or virgin stock from managed plantations.
The University’s Finance and Resources section made a
decision about three years ago to use recycled paper across
the board and an analysis after 12 months showed the section
was saving money, even though the paper was more expensive
to buy than virgin stock.
Annette Black, Business Manager for Finance and
Resources, said they did a lot of research before putting in
place a green office program.
“We adopted our policies in the early stages of the recycled vs
virgin stock argument,” she said. “Because we were
committed, we continued with it: buying recycled paper,
recycling paper within the office and changing all our printers to
default to double-sided printing.
“The paper cost us a little more, but the other recycling and
printing measures more than made up for it. After 12 months,
we found we had saved money and used less paper.”
It has become second nature for the staff in Financial Services,
Facilities Management, Human Resources and several smaller
sections to think before they print, and to make use of all waste
paper.
“With the help of Archives and Records Services we are now
progressing to electronic document management for files and
records,” Ms Black said. “And Strategic Project Management
and Parking and Security have already made the change.”
Joyce Dacruz, Associate Director Financial Services (Strategic
Procurement), said her team had worked on a policy of using
recycled paper for the whole university, but it stalled two years
ago when the recycled vs virgin pulp argument reared its head.
At that point the Office of Finance and Resources introduced
the initiative of printing on recycled paper, together with a
printing reduction strategy (all printing to be on double-sided
paper and only print when it’s absolutely necessary) to show
that environmental sustainability initiatives such as these do
work and help save money. “The analysis confirmed that we did
save money by following this initiative.”
Craig MacKenzie, Manager UniPrint, said he and his staff had
done a lot of research into the most sustainable paper and
printing methods but it was difficult to find a definitive source of
information.
Much of the research that recommends fast-growing trees in a
sustainably-managed plantation, producing virgin pulp is written
or funded by the timber and pulp industry.
“But there is no doubt that the recycling process does have a
big carbon footprint,” Mr Mackenzie said.
“We know that a lot of water and chemicals, including chlorine,
are used but we have been unable to find unbiased information.”
UWAnews is printed on a 60 per cent recycled paper called
Monza satin. Uniview is printed on Hanno art paper, certified as
produced from sustainable plantation pine.
“People these days want the best possible product, which
usually means the whitest paper. Technology, which makes it
easy to correct and change and improve printed documents,
has raised everybody’s expectations and demands for
perfection,” he said.
“But while the paper argument continues, we have made real
progress in greening the production processes at UniPrint. We
have replaced petroleum-based inks and solutions with
soy-based inks and water-based solutions.
“We buy our paper in unwrapped cartons. During busy periods,
we were filling two recycling bins a day with the wrappers that
needed to be removed from reams of paper before filling the
machines. We sometimes use between 200 and 250 reams a
day. A simple change like that meant that waste was dropped
to one recycling bin a week instead of two a day.
“We have done away with the use of film, which was silver and
mercury-based and so quite toxic, and our printing process
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UWA NEWS 9 August 2010
the University of Western Australia