We have long been a supporter of incorporating green processes into our manufacturing practices. Just about all of our products include post-consumer waste as well as recycled materials. While this sounds nice, it’s important to know what these terms mean and what the value of buying environmentally conscious products is. Recycled Materials refer to parts that are left out of the manufacturing process that are then used later. For example, when we make our EXHIBIT A legal divider tabs, the process starts with a blank sheet of paper having a strip cut off the end. That strip of paper goes into a bin that is then bundled in a machine. Of the roughly 40,000 pounds of paper we cannot use each week, all of it gets bundled and recycled.
Post-Consumer Waste (PCW) is where you as a consumer help us make sustainable goods. When you use paper and throw it into your trash can, it is not going to be used again. However, when you use a paper product, be it a corrugated box or one of our manila file jackets, and it gets picked up by your local recycling company, it then goes back into the manufacturing process as the recycled content we call post-consumer waste.
As noted, Kleer-Fax has been using recycled and PCW content in our products for decades. However, in 2009, we took our commitment to the environment one step further by becoming a certified member of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
What Does it Mean to be FSC Certified?
When a product is FSC Certified that means it has gone through the rigorous process of not only being deemed to meet the recycling standards of the FSC, but that the forests are managed responsibly. FSC’s forest management standards:
- Expand water quality
- Prohibit the harvest of rare old-growth forest
- Prevent loss of natural forest cover and prohibit the use of highly hazardous chemicals
- Require that forest managers engage local communities and protect the customary rights of indigenous peoples.
If you’d like to learn more about FSC, the FSC Forest Management Standard, or how to find certified products, you can visit us.fsc.org.
Passing on a Sustainable Future
What this all comes down to is what we leave behind for those we care about. With so many innovations in technology, and the advancement of what we have learned about protecting the environment, there is a great opportunity for us to ensure the best possible future for our loved ones.
While our paper products are built durably so that they last longer than many of our competitors’, they will not last forever. This makes it extremely important that we have a factory that engages in green processes, and that when we sell you a high quality product, we engage in a partnership where we are part of the solution.
In addition to this being done in our factory, we have a blue bin in our office, and these practices go from the top-down as our president, Lou Nigro, uses the reverse side of used paper on his own printer.
We’d love to hear about green practices you have in your office. Do you recycle paper, plastic, and aluminum? Do you have preferred parking spots for electric/hybrid cars? If not, have you considered employing them?
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