—►Full Circle
A
Where has all the recycled paper
gone7
Once used by the tashionably tad
dish tor everything from letterheads to
Xerox paper, the tan or greyish bond
seems to have gone out of vogue at
the University
Recycled paper usage in Oregon
reached its zenith in the mid-1970s
after legislators enacted a state law
requiring state agencies to use recy
cled paper wherever possible Since
then, the recycling furor has subsid
ed. except for a 1978 incident when
two law students from the University's
Environmental Clinic (now the Envir
onmental Law Clinic) reminded the
non-complying University of the state
law
This led to the use of recycled paper
in University copying machines
Four years later, the University has
all but stopped using recycled paper
The papier got caught in the sensitive
Xerox rollers and made poor copies
which led to cost inefficiency. John
son Hall secretaries say
Recycled paper isn’t used much
around the University commercial
district either The University Book
store doesn t sell recycled paper
Only one or two customers a year ask
for it, says Assistant Manager Bob
Spencer With such little demand
Spencer says he can t justify taking
up shelf space for an unwanted
product
Kinko s printshop owner Dave Gib
son says he feels the same way Three
or four years ago. customers often
requested it, but now only a few
mindful p>eople ask for it, Gibson
calls
The higher price of recycled paper
is another deterrent. Spencer and
Gibson agree Depending on the
brand, recycled paper can cost as
much as 40 cents more a ream (500
sheets) than virgin pap>er made from
wood chips
Such attitudes don't discourage
Nandi Szabo of Northwest Resource
Recycling She wants to revive the
public's desire for recycled paper
The non-salability of recycled paper
can be attributed to poor advertising
Szabo says People don't ask for it
because they don’t know it's there."
People should buy recycled paper
to help preserve the environment
Szabo says A veteran environmen
talist Szabo s recalls that she first
realized the importance of recycling
paper as a young girl
The University hauls 130 tons of
garbage per month to the county
landfill in Glenwood according to
Harold Babcock. University physical
plant director He estimates that 45 to
60 percent of that is paper
The University's garbage trucks
don't haul away all used paper, how
ever Much of the campus discarded
newsprint and some of its office paper
gets recycled through the Survival
Center's Project Intercept, which has
placed the inconspicuous but familiar
blue and yellow cans that ask for
typing paper, mimeograph paper. IBM
cards, computer print-out paper and
newspaper, Babcock says
Recycling businesses, like
Northwest Recycling, encourage
local businesses to save their used
paper for recycling NWRR offers
guidelines and will supply a business
with 55-gallon barrel drums and will
pick them up
"We re trying to make it easier for
people to recycle " Szabo explains
Northwest Recyling started a pro
gram last January that completes the
recycling circle Szabo and other
NWRR employees pick up the drums
to empty them and they also ask
businesses if they want to purchase
100 percent recycled bond paper
commonly used for memo-writing and
letters
The recycled paper recipe is a sim
ple process of de-inking the used
paper, shredding it and then adding
very hot water Some agitation
produces a murky fluid full of the
neccessary wood fiber, which is
poured over a screen The water is
pressed out and what s left is paper
Szabo emphasizes that recycled
paper’s cost is competitive
Comparisons reveal that River
side s 20-pound bond standard-size
paper costs $2 85 a ream Kinko s
uses Zellerbach Paper Company vir
gin paper which runs approximately
$2 80 per ream Gibson points out that
Kinko's buys a railroad boxcar load at
a time and such a big buy lowers the
price to $2.20 per ream
The University Bookstore pays
$2 29 per ream for white bond paper
The Bookstore buys from the Western
College Bookstore Association a
contract that national paper compan
ies fight for The high competition
drives the prices way down and as
Spencer says, local recycled paper
brokers like Szabo must compete
against a comparitively huge organ
ization
But Szabo. who has received
requests for the Riverside paper from
the state of Alaska and the
Washington State Department of
Ecology, could sell to the state
The state is doing their darndest
to make recycled paper available
says Walt Parsons paper purchaser
for the University Printshop Parsons
says he recently attended a meeting
about paper purchasing contracts
The state has developed two types of
paper buying contracts called neu
tral" and "recycled ” The neutral
contract may include bids for virgin
paper as well as recycled paper If the
recycled paper’s cost comes within 5
percent of the virgin paper's cost, the
state will opt for the recycled paper
"What the state is trying to do is get
a supply of recycled paper,' Parsons
says
Gibson, Parsons and Spencer all
say they would prefer using recyled
paper for various reasons that include
preservation of the environment to
reduction of garbage
"It would make me feel good (to use
it),'' Gibson says But "times are
tough economically, you have to cut
back on frills ”
An employee at Eugene’s Northwest Resource Recycling feeds a compacter
with scrapped cardboard that will again supply businesses and consumers with a
reusable product
Story by Caroline Petrich
Photos by Bob Baker
Tons upon tons of compacted paper products stacked at the recycling center
are collected from 55-gallon barrells provided from Northwest Resource
Recycling.
The deck is stacked with one of the
final products from the resource
center.
V
Recycled paper struggles
- to make campus comeback ^
J