Recycling is good, using less is better

Beginning in 2005, City departments took actions to reduce paper by 15% by the end of 2005, 30% by the end of 2006 and maintain the 30% reduction levels going forward. In addition, we began using 100% post-consumer-waste recycled content paper as our standard for printing and copying. PaperCuts is a success, saving waste and pollution, saving time and money!

On these web pages, find out why it matters, what we did, and how you can do PaperCuts.

• December 2009 Report (Excel format)
• The PaperCuts Steering Committee is delighted to tell you that City Departments achieved 30% paper reduction compared to our 2004 baseline.
  
  
• The saved paper would make a stack as high as 9 Space Needles! This amount of paper equals about 90 tons, and saved City Departments $44,000.
  
  
• The reduced paper consumption plus continued use of 100% post-consumer-waste recycled paper eliminates almost 400 tons of CO2 equivalent (greenhouse gases) each year.

PaperCuts Results Narrative for 2008 (Word format)

WHAT'S NEW

2009 PaperCuts Green Office Fair

The 2009 Green Office Fair took place December 1 in the Bertha Knight Landes Room in Seattle City Hall.

The City of Seattle's PaperCuts Campaign and the Local Hazardous Waste Program in King County welcomed over a hundred people to talks, demos, and trainings for working sustainably. Attendees shared experiences and tools for saving paper, saving time, saving energy, and saving dollars.

Green Office Fair Presentations:

• Green Office Fair Schedule (PDF)
• Morning Panel (Powerpoint)
  Contains all the following:
  • Overview for the day
  • Welcome by Nancy Locke
  • Kinley Deller and Greg Gachowsky how to save paper and the environment
  • PaperCuts accomplishments Larry Garcia
  • Sharing information tools Suzanne Kohaya
  • Green office resources Shirli Axelrod
  • Seattle green purchasing Jason Edens
  • Use of standards and certifications Karin Kraft
  • Recycling and composting Tom Gannon
• Vicki Childs Notes (Paperless pay stubs and more) (Word)
• Eric Nelson Notes (King County Green Purchasing) (Word)
• Liz Martini Green Design Print Class (PDF)
  Green Design Strategy Checklist (PDF)
• Debra Taevs Healthcare Class (Powerpoint)

Questions? Contact Shirli.Axelrod@Seattle.gov or Dawn.Blanch@Seattle.gov, Seattle PaperCuts co-leads, or Tracee Tracee.Mayfield@Kingcounty.gov

PaperCuts evaluated by a Leading Edge Team of city employees - View Evaluation in Powerpoint Format

TIP OF THE MONTH

NW Paper Forum Best PaperCuts Idea Winner!

Linda Olson, Northwest Region, WSDOT

The Northwest Region of the Washington State Department of Transportation wanted a better way of notifying service areas when an employee was hired, changed office or when they left state service. Each service area had their own form that the manager filled out to get services.

The Employee Action Form was created as a more efficient way of notifying service areas. What started as six paper forms became a one-entry online form. It used to take several days and sometimes weeks to get all of the services a new employee needed to do his job.

Now, a manager can input the information into the system, have it approved at a higher level and notify Human Resources along with other service areas in less than a day.

• WSDOT Employee Action Form (Word format)
• WSDOT Employee Action Form Documentation (Word format)