For a few years now, RPI has been slowly increasing its environmental responsiveness and efficiency, but in one branch we are still well behind. While the federal government has been using entirely recycled paper since 1993, Rensselaer continues to rely on virgin office paper for most of its needs.

Using virgin paper causes many problems, including pollution, deforestation, and excessive waste. Switching to a recycled paper alleviates these problems and is a necessary step to campus sustainability.

There are several academic and non-academic departments that use 30 percent post-consumer waste paper, including the arts, physics, science and technology studies, mechanical engineering, and math departments, to name a few. But the majority of departments still do not.

The ideal paper to use right now is a 100 percent PCW-processed chlorine-free paper. Using 100 percent recycled paper makes the greatest impact, and eliminating chlorine is a major step for our health. Chlorine is used in some paper mills to bleach the paper and make it whiter. While this may appeal to the pristine sides of people, it comes with a big environmental cost. A byproduct of the bleaching is dioxin, a toxic substance that is leaked into rivers and the ground and can harm humans and wildlife.

Recycling paper and using recycled paper go hand in hand. Rensselaer has in place an excellent paper-recycling program, currently run by Greening Coordinator Steve Lauria. The only logical step after establishing this successful program is to ‘close the loop’ and use recycled paper in our offices. If we do not buy back the paper we have sent away, recycling is futile.

Unfortunately, there is still a stigma attached to paper with recycled content that is a remnant of the early ’90s. People recall the paper being off-color and jamming in the machines. The technological advancements since then have made recycled paper a virtually indistinguishable product. The Great White 30 percent PCW recycled paper that is already offered here has the same brightness level as our virgin paper and costs only slightly more. In addition, all new printers and copiers are made to work well with recycled content.

An even more substantial component of paper use is reduction. In conjunction with a switch to recycled paper, we need to attack the wasted paper on campus. This includes individual aspects—like not printing unnecessary material and printing on both sides of the paper—and also campuswide issues like the cover page that prints out with every job.

This initiative, part of the Greening of Rensselaer, is a continuation of the work done by Adam Smargon, the former Green Purchasing Agent for RPI. Smargon’s work integrating recycled products into campus life was also the jumping-off point for a project involving creating a database of recycled products offered by Staples. With the help and direction of Kathy Cacciola and the Campus Ecology Program of the National Wildlife Federation, The Paper Project is underway, trying to make a more mature RPI.