Over five million acres of virgin forest are logged for paper production in the US every year. That's almost one New Hampshire, in terms of land area - annually. One-sixth of this abused land is old growth forest, and more than three quarters of it is in ecologically diverse and sensitive parts of the southeast US.
This is why I joined the Stop Staples Campaign. There aren't that many New Hampshires worth of forest left in our country. In fact, 95 percent of our original, old growth forests have been logged already. Staples, Inc. is far and away the largest and fastest growing office supply company in the US and in the world - they open, on average, one new store every 48 hours. And they sell woefully little recycled paper. Less than 12 percent of their products have recycled content, and those that do are typically from pre-consumer sources. While this does mean fewer thousands of tons of paper get landfilled, it doesn't mean fewer trees are chopped.
I spent many hours in the last month trying to get Staples to recycle more. I never considered myself an "activist" before, but I dressed up in a suit and tie and chanted "Pine, spruce, redwoods, maples-Sell recycled paper Staples!" for hours in Harvard Square. I helped run a call-in day from the campus center - you might remember our table, covered with cell phones, and you might have made one of the 140 phone calls that Staples, Inc. received from Tufts University that day. They really noticed that one. We filled one executive's voicemail box in twenty minutes, and as soon as he checked his messages, we did it again. I've talked to radio reporters and Staples PR men together, pointing out gaps between their eco-friendly rhetoric and the truth.
Our requests are simple. We want Staples to immediately phase out all products made from old growth fiber, and from trees harvested from public lands. It's simply not necessary to drain these resources, and the cost to Staples of such an act is minimal. Staples should commit to 50 percent post consumer content for all their paper products within two years, and phase out non-recycled products. As one of the leading buyers of paper in the world, Staples could drive the cost of recycled paper (which is inherently more energy and cost-effective than logging) down to or below non-recycled types.
Our final demand is that Staples offer some 100 percent tree-free products-made from alternative sources such as hemp and agricultural byproducts. Since I joined the campaign, they agreed to this, and are starting to stock it on their shelves.
This astounded me. I did this. If I did the math, I could probably give you a number of trees I have personally saved. Right now, I'll guess one.
One big tree that, because of me, won't be cut. I'm a believer. I spent some time with some friends, cajoled the establishment, learned a thing or two, and saved a tree. The first of many.
Nick Novelli is a senior majoring in mechanical engineering.
