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IU Bloomington Paper Challenge Fall 2015
In response to the call from the Indiana University Student Association and the Graduate Student Professional Organization to reduce printing-related resource use, the IU Office of Sustainability is partnering with Offices and Departments across the Bloomington campus for a voluntary 3 month Challenge to reduce our paper footprint through trainings, strategic resource use, and creativity. Let’s build a more sustainable IU together!
How to Sign Up:
1. Determine your competing unit.
Option 1: Entire Department or Office for small units.
Option 2: Divide Department or Office however you see fit, if large or in multiple locations on campus.
2. Email .
- Your name and job title.
- How your unit should be referred to for this Challenge.
o i.e. College of XYZ Admissions Office
- Description of competing unit (Location, # of staff)
o i.e. 1st floor ABC building, 15 FTE.
3. Share and review these materials with other people in your unit over the summer and start thinking about the actions your unit could take. We are happy to take comments about the Paper Challenge at .
4. That’s all for now. We’ll contact you in August to gear up for the Challenge!
Time Line:
Turn in Commitment Form (ASAP)
Winner Announced: December 11th
Background: Where are we now?
The impetus of the Paper Challenge was to address the purchasing habits of IU Bloomington with respect to copy paper, which is easy to track at the campus level. At current levels of consumption, IUB uses approximately 70 million sheets of paper annually corresponding to the clear cutting of a fully-stocked forest the size of Dunn's Woods each semester. This does not include other ways we use paper, such as newspaper, book publishing, and notebooks. In addition, only 6% of the $440,000 spent on copy paper supported recycled content in 2013 with the percentage decreasing over the last 6 years. Thus, a primary aim of the challenge is to decrease the total amount of paper purchased and used. A secondary goal is to increase the percentage of expenditure on recycled content and increase the percentage of papers that are certified for sustainable forestry management practices for virgin papers. The challenge will also address the impacts of other print-related resource use, including the elimination of unnecessary devices such as personal printers and the procurement of more sustainable hardware.
Survey Results: Thirty-three departments voluntarily participated in a survey in January 2015 regarding paper purchasing practices, barriers and incentives to making changes, and interest in a Paper Challenge.
- 51% of respondents thought that the biggest barrier was a lack of knowledge or comfort with software and online platforms.
- 47% were interested in trainings to address that barrier.
- 63% of respondents said the budget was the largest barrier to increasing spending on recycled papers
- 50% were willing to use savings from reduced purchases to support investment in recycled or certified papers.
How does the Challenge work?
Tracking: We are unable to track printing with the managed print system because primarily Student Technology Centers use the tracking system. And we don’t want you to have to keep track manually! You have more important work to do. We have developed a point system to reward commitments and specific actions. In future years, we hope to track printing quantitatively with a managed print environment.
Recognition Categories:
1. Overall Winner: Collect the most points. Plant a tree in spring 2016!
2. Most Innovative: Take the most creative actions and make significant changes towards paperless workflow processes. Award to be determined.
3. 100% Club: Use and purchase only 100% post-consumer recycled paper during the challenge. Award to be determined.
Point System:
Commitments*:
(10 pts) Make 1-2 public commitments at the start of the Paper Challenge
(20 pts) Make 3-4 public commitments at the start of the Paper Challenge
* See IU Paper Challenge Commitment Form on page 5. Commitments will be publicized on social and print media. The form is due on August 24th.
On-going Challenge Actions:
(5 pts) - Develop a system for filing/backing up files digitally only, rather than only paper. A duplicate paper and digital system does not qualify. Hint: Consider Box or OnBase for a more sophisticated system, depending on your needs.
(10 pts) - Track expenditure on paper and the quantity purchased (either by reams, cartons, or pages) purchased during the Challenge.
(10 pts) - Track the % recycled content and FSC certified papers purchased during the Challenge.
Average Recycled Content (by # pages)* Percentage FSC Certified Paper* (Expend.)
(1 pt) 10%-30% 10%-30%
(4 pts) 31-50% 31-50%
(7 pts) 51-70% 51-70%
(10 pts) 70-90% 70-90%
(12 pts) 100% 100%
*Don’t worry. We’ll calculate the total number of pages and find the averages. Just give us a spreadsheet at the end of the Challenge listing your purchases, # of units, unit cost, the percent recycled/post-consumer content, and whether the product is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified.
"Check List" Actions
(5 pts) - Install prompts at all personal work stations to print less and print double-sided. Prompts will be available at the start of the challenge.
(5 pts) – Make sure you have recycling bins near all central office printers. Complete the cycle, recycle!
(5 pts per % category) - Remove 25, 50, 75, or 100% of personal desktop printers. Hint: Recycle the machine and unused toner responsibly through IU Surplus.
(5 pts) Review departmental polices on printing and document retention.
Example: Verify your assumptions about document retention requirements. Are personnel files (evaluations, payroll, etc) required to be kept as a hardcopy or digitally? Are staff printing out all email correspondence? Direct questions to .
(10 pts) - Make one or more revisions to policies on printing-related resource use aimed at promoting a wiser use of resources.
(5 pts) - Technology lifecycle. Review and determine if cycle can be extended without negatively impacting user experience and performance. Hint: Talk to your unit's IT Pro about lifecycle extension options."
(10 pts) – Commit to extend lifecycle in budget by 1 year.
(5 pts) - Review technology purchasing practices. Hint: Work with Nathan Smith, Purchasing Contract Manager, to determine if your needs can be met by exclusively purchasing EPEAT or Energy Star registered products. Work with decision makers to plan for 2016-2017 expenditures on hardware meet those requirements. If no one in the Challenge unit has the authority to participate in that decision, submit a letter of support/recommendation to appropriate fiscal officer(s) or administrator(s).
(1 pt per monitor) - Implement a dual monitor in situations where it would significantly reduce the need to print. This is particularly helpful for staff that toggle frequently between multiple spreadsheets and documents. Hint: Purchase monitors from IU Surplus!
(15 pts) - Innovation Credit. Describe innovative methods used to reduce paper use that the department has employed.
Training
(10 pts each) - In-house training from UITS IT Training staff on a topic that supports going paperless.
(5 pts per % category) – 25/50/75/100% of staff members attend at least one training in the Go Paperless IT Training series.
(5 pts per % category) - 25/50/75/100% of staff members attend a 2+ trainings in the Go Paperless IT Training series.
(10 pts per % category) – 25/50/75/100% of academic personnel attend a professor panel on how they have made content delivery both more sustainable and effective.
(10 pts per % category) – 25/50/75/100% of administrative personnel attend a panel discussion with other who have made the significant improvements in paperless workflow.
In response to the call from the Indiana University Student Association and the Graduate Student Professional Organization to reduce printing-related resource use, we voluntarily commit to do our part as a department to create a more sustainable IU.
Your commitments will be publicized on print and social media. Your unit will receive 10 Challenge points for 1-2 commitments and 20 points for 3-4 commitments.
We pledge to take the following actions to REDUCE paper usage:
(check all that apply)
o Reduce paper use by printing less.
o Attend trainings to learn how to digitize records and learn processes for storing, sharing, editing documents
o Set computers and printers to print duplex, and change the default settings if technically feasible.
o Review and adjust departmental policies regarding printing.
We pledge to take the following actions to INCREASE the percentage of recycled, post-consumer, or sustainably harvested paper we purchase:
o Purchase paper with higher levels of recycled content/post-consumer content - 30%, 50%, and 100%
o Purchase paper products that are certified for responsible forest management practices when purchasing virgin materials.
o FSC - Forest Stewardship Council
o Other commitment:
Contact Person: Email:
Unit: Date: