Here are some questions to ask your vendors. Click the links for more info:
ISO Certification. Is your vendor ISO certified? ISO 14000 is a series of environmental and organizational assessment methods developed by the International Organization of Standardization. There are different labels within the ISO 14000 series, but any facility you work with around the world should have the basic ISO 14000 certification.
Recycled. There are tons of great choices these days, for text stock of course, but also for binder boards, packing cartons, and other materials. Many of them are not much more expensive than the non-recycled options.
FSC Certification. If you're not going with recycled, find out if your paper selections are coming from mills that are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. If you don't see the trademark, ask. This is a really basic qualification for being certain that the timber you are ultimately using was not harvested illegally.
Be sure, too, that your suppliers are using inks that are free from heavy metals like mercury, cadmium, chromium and lead.
For more great suggestions about Going Green on the job, check out True Green at Work, published by The National Geographic Society. This is a title I recently produced at Mondadori in Italy using a really nice recycled sheet called Symbol Freelife. The book has some thoughtful and very do-able suggestions for helping to make our work life have less of a negative impact on the environment (including working from home - who could argue with that?). What's next in this series? True Green at Home out in early 2009. Check out Nat Geo's on line Green Guide for more green suggestions.
Are environmental concerns part of your business decisions? Let me know!
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