City Government
Office Paper Recycling Update – Part 2
For Those Who Have Yet To Start Participating
If your City office or building is not already
recycling paper, please contact the Refuse Division’s Recycling
Program by e-mail at hamiltonj@stlouiscity.com,
by fax at 314.352.5627, or by phone at 314.353.7176. We’ll add
your agency to our account for office paper collection. The office
paper is hauled free-of-charge; if the City earns any revenue
on our office paper, it is deposited as General Revenue funds.
Our
office can provide you with recycling bins for collecting office
paper at individual desks and workstations. We’ll need to know
how many employees work in your office or building. Currently,
we have two types of bins to offer that can be placed at each
desk or workstation (photo to the left). One version is about
6-gallons in capacity and is flatter, suitable for sliding under
a desk or shelf. The other version holds about 7-gallons and is
taller, such as for standing next to a desk or workstation. Both
versions are made with a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled
plastic.
Our hauler can provide you with approximately
90-gallon rollcarts for storing the office paper (e.g., hallways,
loading docks). Unless the quantity of office paper generated
by your office is already known, service typically begins with
“call as needed.” Once it becomes clear how much office paper
is collected, a regular collection schedule can be established.
All of the following types of office paper are
accepted, and can be mixed in the same paper recycling bin:
• Accounting paper
• Adding machine tapes
• All bond paper (brights, pastels, white)
• Blueprints
• Brochures
• Carbonless forms
• Computer printouts
• Copy paper
• Fax paper
• Envelopes (including plastic windows)
• Index cards
• Invoices
• Legal Papers
• Letterhead/Stationary
• Magazines
• Manila File Folders
• Newspapers
• Notepad Paper
• Obsolete Files
• Printer Paper
• Time cards
Benefits of Recycling Office Paper
• Approximately 34% (by weight) of the United
States’ waste stream consists of paper; however, only 52% of all
waste paper is recycled. [USEPA 2006]
• It can save money. If we send our office paper to the landfill,
we have to pay a fee. If we recycle our office paper, we can avoid
that disposal cost (and possibly be paid for our paper).
• When manufacturing paper with post-consumer recycled content,
less water and energy are consumed, and less pollution is generated.
• Making paper with post-consumer recycled content reduces greenhouse
gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, which can cause damaging
climate change. One reason is that it’s more energy-efficient
to manufacture with scrap paper, so factories emit less carbon
dioxide (since they’re usually powered by fossil fuels). Another
reason is that recycling avoids chopping down trees, which help
absorb carbon dioxide.
What Happens To Our Office Paper?
• Some of it will end up in Arizona or Mexico,
to be recycled into newspaper.
• Portions will head to Ohio or Oklahoma, to be manufactured into
tissue paper.
• Some will go to Kentucky or Mexico, to be made into corrugated
cardboard boxes.
• And some will be hauled to Ohio, to be recycled into paperboard
(e.g., the back of your notepad, the box your envelopes are packaged
in).
