Paper is the most common waste for offices. It is a major purchasing and disposal cost, yet it can be reduced easily by following the principles of the waste hierarchy. It is estimated that the average office worker uses up to 45 sheets of paper per day, of which approximately half is considered waste.

Virgin paper production is associated with a number of key environmental issues, such as loss of habitat and water stress, high chemical and energy use in manufacture, and detrimental effects from the landfilling or incineration of paper waste. On the other hand, paper is a natural resource that can be recycled up to five times which would substantially reduce these impacts. By buying recycled paper you can help boost the market for recycled products.?

Recycled paper is readily available and has equivalent quality, ‘printability’, appearance and range as virgin papers. As a rule, you should try to use papers with the highest percentage of post-consumer waste, preferably 100%, rather than paper that is composed of pre-consumer waste (i.e. printers’ virgin off-cuts and mill broke). There are a number of standards and labels that classify paper according to its raw material content and manufacturing process.