Still looking for a way to do something green for your company that won’t cost an arm and a leg?

Target all that paper your company’s buying and then paying to dispose of. Paper recycling programs are one of the cheapest and easiest ways to get started on the green business path. And, the paper industry is pushing hard to help all of its customers get into the recycling business.

Lending pressure to recycle paper and paper packaging, from office paper to cardboard shipping containers, the industry trade group, the American Forest & Paper Association (AFPA), has set a goal of recycling 60% of its products by 2012. America recycled 57.4% of paper products by close of 2008.

To join in on the action, the group tracks successful case studies of how businesses, universities, schools and municipalities create various paper recycling programs. Most stories tell a similar tale of starting small and then letting the programs grow more sophisticated.

The basic approach is to start small and tackle the easy things first, then expand your company’s paper recycling programs. For example, to get an office paper program going, AFPA recommends that you:

1. first, audit your office to get a list of the types of paper you’re dealing with
2. then identify which ones are recyclable
3. then develop an action plan with a recycling company
4. then get your management on-board
5. then educate and win buy-in from your co-workers, and
6. finally, measure and share results.

The AFPA case studies are here, at paperreycles.org.

The site also includes a special chapter on recycling in office environments, click here for details.

Tags: paper industry, paper recycling, recycling business