University Paper Usage - Part 1

I've been in touch with the UWA printing services department in trying to find out how much paper the university as a whole uses. The answer that I recieved was that existing records do not take into account the different types of paper used and their environmental record. That's a fair point - having one big number for paper usage may also mask its varying environmental impact - some may come from properly-managed FSC forests, others from uncertified sustainable forests, others just with no environmental background at all.

Still, the fact that I haven't been able to get a plain answer to the sheer amount (probably in the tonnes) of paper illustrates a fundamental point behind the Go Green campaign that we are currently running - things generally won't change unless there's someone there to change it.

We're calling for the university to employ at least one full-time member of staff responsible for environmental management as part of a broader environmental management framework. It doesn't sound sexy, but this is the kind of thing that that person would be involved in - and would have data on paper consumption at his/her fingertips, and someone that I could go to to find out things like paper consumption.

More to follow on the main type of paper the university uses.