Green issues in office supplies

Companies are increasingly assessing their environmental obligations and continually looking at ways in which they can reduce their waste. The office supplies industry is no exception. Many suppliers and manufacturers are seeing the cost saving advantages of reducing waste and recycling. Companies are incorporating these policies into their daily duties, making it part of their corporate social responsibility.
    
The British Office Supplies and Services (BOSS) Federation is heavily involved in many aspects of helping companies inside and outside of the office supplies industry gain greater understanding for their obligations. The federation offers advice to help companies compile strategies for improving the environment.
    
In this era of change, it is important to assess many factors when choosing a supplier. Cost and speed of service are important; however, a company’s environmental ethos can also assure their clients that they are conscious of the contribution that needs to be made to help save the planet.
    
Through obtaining a better understanding of how the office supplies industry is regulated companies will be better equipped to know how to choose an environmentally conscious organisation for their office supplies needs.

Environmental Standards
The Environmental Standards initiative covers many areas of best practice and legislation for the office products industry. Environmental systems can help companies to save money in areas such as greater energy efficiency as well as provide evidence of a company’s environmental policy.
    
As the Federation is aware of the lack of time and understanding companies have on this issue, it introduced an Environment Certificate. The BOSS Environment Certificate (BOSS EC) was launched in 1996 to help and encourage those organisations that are beginning to create environmental policies, as well as those that want to improve their current policies.
    
Although the BOSS EC does not replace formal accreditation it is a useful stepping stone to developing a fully accredited environmental standard such as ISO 14001. In addition, government departments, public authorities, multinationals and national organisations are increasingly asking their suppliers to confirm their environmental credentials.
    
The minimum requirement is an accredited corporate environmental statement. Quite often there is a request for evidence of formal environment management, such as ISO 14001 or EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme).
    
There are consistent evaluation criteria designed to make it more transparent for applicants and evaluators. The criteria clearly show what applicants are required to provide and gives best practice guidance for those who may not have all the requirements yet. Companies will be able to track their performance from year to year and demonstrate where continuous improvement has been made.
    
The certification process enables companies to look at and provide details of the Environmental Management System (EMS), as well as a copy of the formal Environment Policy. It encourages them to provide a list of who has responsibility for environmental policy in the organisation, both at board level and operationally. It identifies the environmental impacts of the organisation: those that can be controlled and those that cannot be.
    
The BOSS Environment Certificate enables companies to assess what they are doing with regards to training and awareness and its supply chain management, i.e. the steps being taken to reduce environmental impact of how products are produced. Selecting a stationery supplier that is accredited either through the BOSS EC or ISO14001, will reinforce their environmentally conscious status.

Packaging waste
The EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste was adopted in December 1994. It covers all packaging placed on the market within the EU at industrial, commercial, office, shop or any other level regardless of the material used. It aims to reduce the overall impact of packaging on the environment by:

• Reducing packaging at source
• Eliminating harmful materials in packaging waste
• Maximising packaging waste re-use for recycling, composting or energy generation
• Minimising quantities going for final disposal.

The Producer Responsibility Obligations (Packaging Waste) Regulations 1997 were made under sections 93, 94 and 95 of the Environment Act 1995. They implemented the 1994 EC Directive on Packaging Waste.
    
The regulations place a legal requirement on certain UK businesses to recover and recycle packaging, so the UK can achieve the targets set out in the EU Directive. The regulation affects those who:

• Manufacture materials for packaging (i.e. a manufacturer of cardboard to be made into packaging)
• Convert materials into packaging (i.e. a manufacturer of cardboard boxes)
• Put goods into packaging (i.e. a company filling boxes with pens)
• Sell packaged goods to a customer who removes the packaging (i.e. a retailer selling boxed goods to their customers who throw away the boxes)
• Import packaging or packed goods from outside the UK (i.e. an importer importing boxed goods from Europe).    

Companies are required to ensure that an equivalent amount of packaging waste has been recovered and recycled to meet their obligation. In the UK this is done by purchasing vouchers, the standard form being Packaging Waste Recovery.

The WEEE Directive
There were two new complementary EC Directives transposed into English Law in 2007. The WEEE Directive sets out criteria for the collection, treatment, recycling and recovery of waste electrical and electronic equipment, making producers responsible for financing most of these activities.
    
The Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ROHS) Directive facilitates the dismantling and recycling of waste electrical and electronic equipment by restricting the use of hazardous substances used in their manufacture.
    
The WEEE Directive was implemented in January 2007, where it was the producer’s responsibility for clearing household and non-household (business to business) items and the take back of WEEE by retailers and distributors.
    
Both directives covers a wide range of products. The categories covered are large and small household appliances, IT and telecommunication equipment, consumer equipment (TV, video, hi-fi, etc), lighting, electrical and electronic equipment (with the exception of large stationary industrial tools), toys, leisure and sports equipment, medical devices (exempt from RoHS and re-use and recovery targets under WEEE), monitoring and control instruments (exempt from RoHS) and automatic dispensers.

The BOSS Federation is always happy to lend an impartial view on the office supplies industry and regulations that governs it. If you would like further information regarding the BOSS Federation, please visit www.bossfederation.co.uk
 
The NetRegs website also aims to help small and medium-sized companies in the UK understand the complex environmental regulations that can affect them. It is free to use, is regularly updated provides guidance on how to comply with environmental law as well as advice on good environmental practice. www.environment-agency.gov.uk/netregs/