BACKGROUND:

It is estimated that more than 8 million tons of office paper is used in the United States of America each year.  That is the equivalent of more than 3 billion reams or, based on a calculation performed by Conservatree, a non-profit dedicated to the continued development and market expansion of ecologically sound papers, 178 million trees.  The County of San Diego used more than 307,000 reams of paper, or nearly 18,500 trees, since last June.  Due to the general use of single-sided printing, millions of sheets of paper are underutilized each year. 

Double-sided printing is not a new innovation, but, despite the fact that it can save literally tons of paper, it is not standard practice.  Due to the County of San Diego’s increasingly environmentally conscious outlook, the investment has already been made in printers and copy machines that have this capability.  It is therefore difficult at best to make any argument against a procedural shift that will save our precious resources as well as tax payer dollars.

While many County departments have already begun to print their materials in the double-sided fashion, there is no policy guidance.  A uniform policy is necessary to ensure that all of our departments are consistent with this environmentally friendly shift. 

The May 12, 2009, agenda for the meeting of the Board of Supervisors is a pertinent example of just how environmentally friendly this change would be.  In preparation for that meeting, the Clerk of the Board had a total of 30 sets of agendas and background material printed and distributed.  There were more than 600 single-sided pages in each package.  If double-sided printing had been utilized, it would have saved upwards of 300 pieces of paper per packet, or about 9,000 total pieces of paper for that meeting alone.  Using the calculation by Conservatree, one tree is equal to about 8,333 sheets of copy paper.  This calculation was based on a mixture of softwood and hardwood trees that are 40 feet in height and 6-8 inches in diameter.  By this calculation, if the County had used double sided printing for the May 12, 2009, meeting, we would have saved an entire tree.

Today’s action will direct the CAO to create a policy that mandates that all printed and photocopied materials generated by the County of San Diego be printed on both sides of the paper when available and appropriate.  It will also direct the CAO to establish and implement a policy that mandates that, whenever feasible and appropriate, any replacement printer or copy machine must have the capability to print in the double-sided style.

Respectfully submitted,

RON ROBERTS

Supervisor, Fourth District