Paper Trail THANKS TO PERSISTENT STUDENTS, PAPER AT THE UNIVERSITY GOES NATURAL by Julie Jones Dioxin is the third most deadly substance known to man. It contaminates our food and water and slowly accumulates in our bodies. Scientists have linked dioxin to cancer, falling sperm counts, infertility, impaired child development, and diabetes. Recently, organochlorides like dioxin have also been tied to increased cancer rates. Dioxin, a man- made chemical, is created in the production, use, and disposal of substances with chlorine compounds like those used in pesticides, solvents, and plastics. A major source of dioxin comes from bleaching processes, such as those used to whiten paper. Last September the Environmental Protection Agency reported that there is no "acceptable" level of exposure to dioxin because it is bio-accumulative and slow to disintegrate. Recently an entire community in Florida had to be relocated because a superfund site near their town was leaching dioxin and other toxic chemicals, making people sick. Student Environmental Action, SEA, calls on the university to be environmentally responsible and serve as an example to other universities and our community. To do so, the university must become more aware of its own purchasing practices and use their contracting power to demand socially responsible products. As students, we can be catalysts in changing university policy -- it is our resposibility to push for change through action. Prompted by the environmentally unsavory tree harvesting and chlorine bleaching that go towards paper production, SEA approached the university community in 1995 and requested that we make a change in our paper purchasing habits. At the time, the university was spending approximately half a million dollars a year on paper, almost all of it from virgin trees -- most of it white with little or no recycled content. Since then, paper prices have risen, causing the university to spend close to one million dollars on paper a year. U.Va. consumes about 140 million sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch copier paper in a year, which comes to about 7,000 sheets per student. One ton of virgin timber makes 200 reams, and the university currently purchases about 280,000 reams. Those of you who have been here at least three years will remember the Clear Cut event on the Lawn, when student activists simulated cutting down Lawn trees to make the community aware of our consumptive habits. The trees on the Lawn, made into paper, would only sustain the university community for three days -- that is, of course, if the paper wasn't recycled for re-use. The Clear Cut project on the Lawn was a successful beginning to an ongoing campaign to change the way we think about paper. Petitions signed by over one thousand students and faculty members were delivered to President Casteen, who then asked that a committee be created of students and administration to explore possible alternatives. The committee, Green for Life, decided that in order to be socially responsible the university should purchase 100 percent recycled, non-chlorine bleached paper and should make serious efforts to reduce paper consumption. I am sure that you are all familiar with the alternative paper we now use. It is the "earth white" paper found in most computer labs, in at least one copier in every library, and handed out in English classes. The brand of the paper is Unity DP; it is 100-percent recycled, with 50 percent of the recycled content coming from post- consumer waste. It is also non-chlorine bleached, a process which uses 58 percent less water, 64 percent less energy, and creates 74 percent less air pollution than the processing of virgin paper. Also, it is less expensive than paper made from virgin fiber -- especially if you take into account the cost of the environmental cleanup associated with chlorine bleaching, the reduced health costs of a cleaner environment, and the preservation of flora and fauna. Unity is the better paper if for no other reason than that it is non-chlorine bleached. Green for Life, with the support of the university, has done an admirable job encouraging the use of this paper. U.Va. is now considered a model school in the state of Virginia for using this paper. SEA recently hosted a paper procurement clinic for student activists from around the state who are working on similar campaigns. Virginia students are working to get Unity on state contract so it will be cheaper for other schools to purchase. There will soon come a time when schools will joint purchase recycled paper, making the environmentally- conscious venture even cheaper by reducing transportation costs. Yet the fight is not over at U.Va. -- the switch to Unity is far from complete. SEA is continuing to educate the administration and students on why using this paper is so important for the preservation of biodiverse forests, healthy streams, and healthy people. As a result, Unity use has grown from ITC's initial switch to Darden printing and copying, Student Council, the Copy Center, and parts of the medical center. We will continue to put pressure on the university to switch everywhere on grounds. In a meeting with Leonard Sandridge, Chief Financial Officer, we were assured that he was behind our campaign and that he was urging all administrative offices to switch, if only for the cost savings. Change works best from the bottom up. Students must lead the way by using Unity unbleached paper and urging others to do so as well. This is best done through action. Print all of your papers on Unity, make your copies at the machines bearing the recycle symbol, and if you have time, send ITC an e-mail telling them you support the use of Unity DP. Most importantly, reduce your paper consumption, print fewer drafts, and make double-sided copies when you must print. The campaign does not stop with paper. At the beginning of this year, the athletic department arranged for the installation of Coca-Cola vending machines that dispense plastic soda bottles. These soda bottles contain no recycled content, take more energy to produce, and use petro-chemicals. Although plastic is collected for recycling, there is hardly any market for recycled plastic. Plastic cannot be recycled, only downcycled, meaning that a recycled plastic soda bottle cannot be reincarnated as another soda bottle but will become a lower grade plastic (like in plastic pipes, while an aluminum can will become another can). SEA and Green for Life called a meeting of those involved in the contracting of vending machines and quickly obtained a moratorium on the plastic Coke machines -- those that exist now will be taken away if we don't buy from them. That is the ultimate goal of both the paper and plastic campaigns -- reducing consumption. Stop buying plastic soda bottles. Carry a reusable mug -- it is much cheaper and more responsible. For more disposable reducing tips come to the Lawn during Wake Up Week and check out SEA's anti-plastic nation display. SEA meetings are every Thursday at 7 p.m. by the Homer statue, or check out the Green for Life web page at: http://ecosys.drdr.virginia.edu/ugp/green4life.html. Join the movement and make something happen.

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