Paper Use and Procurement Policy

Paper-Use Philosophy - 3 Rs

Along with seeking to buy paper with high Post-Consumer Resin (PCR) content, we employ the 3 Rs.

Reduce. For catalogs and brochures, we print on the lightest weight paper feasible, which is determined by the required quality of the print job. By using lighter weight paper, we use less paper.

We also encourage our employees to consider the need to print every project. This not only saves forests, but also money. In our offices, we rely heavily on PDFs and email communication to reduce the use of paper in daily business operations. 

Reuse. We encourage our employees to print on both sides of a piece of paper. We also have collection boxes for Good-On-One-Side (GOOS) paper, which has been printed on, but still has a blank side. Feeding GOOS back into copiers and printers can be problematic, but it works well for note-taking. 

Recycle. We ask our employees to recycle everything they can, including office paper, magazines, and cardboard. Every employee has a paper-recycling bin beneath their desk, which they transfer to larger ones placed at several strategic locations throughout our buildings. Trash cans are small and rather hard to find at Dominion. By buying recycled paper, we also help to promote a market for it, thereby expanding its availability, and one would hope, reducing its cost. 

A Work in Progress

As mentioned before, we still have work to do. Along with finding paper products that meet our environmental criteria, there are a number of things we currently print that could just as easily be paperless: pay stubs (we now offer paperless, web-based option to employees), 401K statements, and some office forms among them. We are aware of these shortcomings, as well as others, and are working to change them.