May 2003
We’ve been helping the House of Commons to
‘get its own back’ – and we want to help you too!

London based environmental organisation, BioRegional, is calling on offices in Westminster and the South East to join with the House of Commons (H of C) to ‘get their own back’ by participating in a pioneering paper recycling and buy back scheme – ‘local paper for london’. The initiative, funded by Shanks First under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme, can save offices money, help the environment and create local jobs.

Tom Brake MP for Carshalton and Wallington has backed the scheme from the start, he comments:
“ With this recycling scheme, Parliament has reduced its ecological footprint. I would urge all organisations to contribute towards sustainability by signing up to BioRegional’s office paper recycling loop. It has been easy to implement and now it’s second nature for us to keep our white paper separate for recycling.”

The HOC now:
1) recycles its white office paper waste to the local mill in Kent via waste paper collector SITA
2) ‘gets its own back’ by buying the locally produced 100% recycled paper, ‘EVOLVE’ ,which is made from this waste
3) reduces its paper consumption (to save money and trees), by following BioRegional’s handy tips to reduce office paper use

Each month the 659 MP’s and the civil servants working within the H of C collectively recycle 5 tonnes of paper, they then buy back the same weight of EVOLVE paper, completing the recycling loop. The H of C also recycles oils, glass and fluorescent lighting tubes. BioRegional helped by identifying and liaising with suitable paper collectors, giving advice on recycling bins, identifying paper merchants, providing price comparisons and giving free advice and support materials to help reduce paper consumption.

Offices have been saving as much as 20% on their paper bills by reducing consumption and choosing free or low cost waste paper collection over paying far higher trade waste fees. The trend is for trade waste costs to increase for example the EU's landfill directive, introduced in July 2002, states that all wastes in future will have to be segregated prior to arriving at a landfill site. This segregation will lead to increased waste disposal costs, joining local paper for london will help keep trade waste costs down.

Over 500 organisations have joined the scheme since it was launched in 1999. This has diverted 3,900 tonnes of paper from landfill, enough to fill 100 double decker buses, and has saved 66,000 trees from being felled. This is a great achievement,
but there is potential to save even more paper locally if more organisations join the scheme.

Sue Riddlestone manages the free local paper for london advice line, she commented:
“When offices join the scheme we urge them to sign up to all three steps; that is to reduce, recycle and buy back. It’s good to see more offices and individuals recycling but if we don’t buy the recycled products back then the market for them will never grow. The recycled paper is guaranteed in photocopiers and when people receive the free samples they are pleasantly surprised. And jobs in London benefit too, with a new job in paper recycling created for every 21 new members on the local paper for london scheme – 24 jobs so far “

An Eco-footprint analysis by Best Foot Forward, with data drawn from a Life Cycle Assessment of the local paper for london loop, shows that local recycled paper is the best environmental option. Local recycled paper has only half the eco-footprint of imported recycled paper and a mere 15% of the eco-footprint of imported virgin-pulp paper. Reasons for this include:

· Recycling locally minimises transport, and contributes less to global warming than importing pulp to make paper.
· The collected waste paper can be recycled 5 times, therefore in paper pulp terms the process is 5 times more resource efficient than land filling or incinerating paper after just one use.

· The UK’s office paper use has doubled in the last 15 years, this puts pressure on forests worldwide. Indicators point towards 20-30% of virgin pulp and paper coming from the world’s old-growth forests every year, recycling reduces this pressure. (Source: Towards a sustainable paper cycle, p34, IEED London, 1996)

Let BioRegional make it easy for you to reduce your eco-footprint and close the loop on your office paper use. For free advice and information call the local paper for london advice line on 020 8404 4884 or email localpaper@bioregional.com. Alternatively visit the local paper Web pages at www.bioregional.com.
Ends

Notes

By joining local paper for london your office will be in good company; other participants include Direct Line Insurance, The Greater London Authority, IKEA, The Royal Albert Hall and hundreds of others big and small.

Shanks first fund: When the Landfill Tax was introduced in October 1996, Shanks, a major Waste Management company, decided to assist the establishment of several Environmental Bodies to administer its donations under the Landfill Tax Credit Scheme (a scheme whereby landfill operators are able to redirect up to 20% of their landfill tax to fund environmental projects as part of a voluntary donation). Shanks’ independent, not-for-profit Environmental Bodies now distribute these donations under the collective fund name shanks first fund. Since December 1996, the shanks first fund has received £43 million and this has supported some 800 projects.

In 2001 BioRegional carried out a London based survey into paper use which found that:

· 41% of London offices still admit to throwing paper in the bin instead of recycling it.
· Even more, 77%, say they never buy recycled office paper.
· Businesses with a turnover of between £2-5 million are the worst offenders with only 25% of them recycling their paper and none buying recycled. Only 15% of them make any attempt to reduce their paper use.