***********************************************

WORLDWIDE FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS

Expanding the Market for Environmentally Preferable Paper

***********************************************

Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org

http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation Archives

http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest Conservation

11/11/99

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY

Progressive companies are reducing the environmental impacts of their

paper use. Their actions represent important steps to conserve

forests, and are easily replicable elsewhere by companies and

individuals.

g.b.

*******************************

RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

Title: Five Firms Slash Impact of PAPER Use

Source: Environment News Service http://www.ens.lycos.com/

via ForestWorld at http://www.forestworld.com/

Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint

Date: November 11, 1999

WASHINGTON, DC, November 11, 1999 (ENS) - Five market-leading U.S.

companies are reducing the environmental impacts of their paper use

while advancing their business objectives, reports the Alliance for

Environmental Innovation.

The firms come from diverse industries, including finance, food

service, mail and package service, and print media. Their

environmental achievements are highlighted in the Alliance's report,

"Leading By Example: How Businesses are Expanding the Market for

Environmentally Preferable Paper."

"These companies are market leaders and environmental leaders," said

Alliance economic analyst John Ruston. "They have learned how to

reduce the environmental impacts of paper use while meeting their

business objectives. Less air and water pollution, reduced solid

waste and conservation of forest resources are the result of these

improved paper-purchasing practices," he said.

BankAmerica cut paper use and costs over the past decade by

eliminating unnecessary packaging, using lighter weight paper and

using email and the company's intranet to substitute for paper.

Created by the 1998 merger of BankAmerica and NationsBank, Bank of

America Corporation has put into place or is working toward source

reduction and recycling processes and goals. Consolidation of forms,

electronic communications and print-on-demand features have replaced

more than 60 percent of the combined banks' inventory of paper forms

and internal reports.

Ben & Jerry's introduced an unbleached ice cream container that

replaces a container made from paper bleached with chlorine

compounds. A clay-coated printing surface on the new container

maintains the appearance of the old container, but the new container

is brown on the inside, rather than white. Ben & Jerry's customers

have accepted this new, less-polluting package.

McDonald's restaurant corporation has eliminated 26,500 tons of

packaging material from 1991 to 1997. Source reduction initiatives

such as these saved the company $12.2 million in 1997 through 1998.

More than 50 percent of McDonald's paper packaging now contains

recycled content.

McDonald's is also developing a forestry scorecard that will rate its

suppliers based on their forestry management policies and operations.

Time, Inc. is directing the growth in its paper purchasing toward

suppliers that support the concept of a "minimum impact" pulp and

paper mill. As one example, Time is importing between 15,000 and

25,000 tons of paper per year from a new, world-class, totally

chlorine free paper mill in Sweden.

In the last five years, three of Time's top six suppliers have

established new business relationships with the company based in part

on their environmental records.

United Parcel Service created the first two-use reusable express

envelope with the Alliance for Environmental Innovation in 1998. UPS

has committed to eliminating bleached paper from its express

packaging, and has increased the post consumer recycled content of

this packaging by 22 percent.

The Alliance for Environmental Innovation is a joint initiative of

the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

###RELAYED TEXT ENDS###

This document is a PHOTOCOPY for educational, personal and non-

commercial use only. Recipients should seek permission from the

source for reprinting. All efforts are made to provide accurate,

timely pieces; though ultimate responsibility for verifying all

information rests with the reader. Check out our Gaia's Forest

Conservation Archives & Portal at URL= http://forests.org/

Networked by Forests.org, gbarry@forests.org