County’s Move to Recycled Paper has a Ripple Effect

By Stan Matthews
County Communications Program Manager

This month San Juan County has received its first shipment of printer and copier paper with 40% recycled content, as did the town of Friday Harbor and dozens of other businesses. The County’s switch from virgin paper to recycled paper has had a ripple affect as its vendor, Island Paper & Supply is now providing the paper at reduced cost to all of its customers countywide.

Until San Juan County Pollution Prevention Specialist Brian Rader met with Lopez Island-based Island Paper & Supply owner Gerard Post van der Burg last year, the County was stuck in a familiar dilemma: it wanted to do the environmentally correct thing; but with budgets shaved to the bone, it couldn’t justify the additional cost of up to $6 per case to purchase high quality recycled paper for all County departments to use.

Post van der Burg was already enthusiastic about providing environmentally friendly products. Two years ago he worked with then County facilities manager Bud Sears; to switch the county to “Green Seal” certified cleaning supplies, and paper towels and toilet paper with high recycled paper content. Now he is selling those products to clients countywide.

After talking with Rader, Post van der Burg worked with his office paper wholesaler to get reduced prices based on the prospect of a larger market, and he reduced his own profit margin to totally eliminate the cost gap between virgin and recycled content paper. He then extended the same offer to all of his clients countywide. Altogether about 50 businesses have made the switch. When a member of the town of Friday Harbor’s staff called to inquire about switching to recycled office paper, Post van der Burg told them they already had.

As to quality, he says, “So far I have not had any complaints about problems with the paper – jam-ups in printers or copiers, or concerns about quality.”

San Juan County uses about 60 cases of paper per month and Island Paper & Supplies’ other clients are now buying another 20 cases per month. Post van der Burg adds that he is finding an increasing level of interest in switching to recycled-content paper from businesses that are not currently his clients.

“It’s a really good deal all around,” Rader said. He described the economic and environmental benefits as follows:

• The resources that are preserved by switching from 100% virgin paper to a paper with 40% recycled content are substantial.  According to the Environmental Defense Fund’s on-line ‘paper calculator,’ the switch of approximately 80 cases of paper per month (countywide) will produce these savings over the course of a year:
  • 53 tons less wood (the equivalent of about 370 trees)
  • 639  million less BTUs of energy
  • 117,556 pounds less CO₂ equivalents (“Greenhouse gases”)
  • 419,520 gallons less wastewater
  • 38,904 pounds less solid waste
• We are supporting the recycled products market, which is important because we need profitable uses for all that recycled stuff that we drop off at the transfer stations.
• In addition to purchasing from our island-local supplier (which helps keep dollars local), we are buying from a Washington manufacturer, which helps to preserve jobs in our state.  Grays Harbor currently employs over 200 Washingtonians.
• Grays Harbor’s paper mill of Hoquiam, Washington is arguably the most environmentally responsible and sustainably managed paper mill in North America.  Supporting businesses that conserve resources and work hard to improve energy efficiency is good for the economy and good for the environment.
• By purchasing from a Washington paper mill, less energy and fuel is used to transport the paper from the mill to the island.

Brian Rader’s position with the County is funded by a Department of Ecology grant. Its primary goal is to assist local businesses and government facilities in finding ways to reduce waste and pollution.