We have learned how using the right language can engage readers and potential collaborators as well as influence other changemakers to take action.  But some of the more tangible aspects of our organizations can also reflect just how committed we are to making a difference.

There’s one often-overlooked tool that we use to fundraise, market, and grow our organizations: paper. Unless you are entirely digital and never print anything, you will have to use some dead trees at some point.

My friend Carolina Miranda, founder of Cultivating Capital, has generously allowed us to share much of her article, Making Good Purchasing Decisions for Recycled Paper. The article includes useful tips and information on how we can become more environmentally responsible, while still getting our messages across. Please see below:

The key when buying your paper is to make sure that it clearly specifies that it has ‘post-consumer waste.’

Let’s start with some basics. Here’s a quick rundown of the terms that you might find on a package of copy paper:

• Recycled – this is an easy one: When paper is recycled and turned back into paper, we refer to that as recycled paper. This is in contrast to virgin paper that is made exclusively from trees and has no recycled content.
• Post-consumer waste (PCW) – this refers to paper that has reached the end consumers (all of us who are using paper and then tossing it in our recycle bins) and then been turned back into paper.  Paper that contains post-consumer waste (PCW) will clearly state it.
• Recyclable – this is the sneakiest of the paper industry’s marketing ploys. They label their paper as either being recyclable or made from recyclable materials in order to intentionally mislead consumers into thinking that they’re buying a product made from recycled content. Basically, they’re just telling you that paper is recyclable – that it can be recycled – but we already know that!
• Processed chlorine-free/unbleached – this means that bleach was not used to make the paper white. The ubiquitous white copy paper that we find in every office has traditionally required bleach in order to give it its white appearance. However, using bleach is not good for the environment, and now there are papers that are processed without bleach.

Does recycled paper jam printers?

Surprisingly, even here in the Bay Area in this day and age, I still occasionally run into someone who will explain to me that their business can’t use recycled paper because it will jam the printer. Really? In a couple of cases, they even been told by their printer technician to avoid using recycled paper.

It’s time to put this myth to rest: recycled copy paper will not jam printers or copy machines. Thousands of businesses and organizations, including the federal government, have been using recycled paper for years. This myth is a relic of a time when the quality of recycled paper was not what it is today. Yes, there was a time when recycled paper was in its early days and it did sometimes jam the printers, but that was long ago.

Learn more about Making Good Purchasing Decisions for Recycled Paper from Carolina Miranda’s blog.