I'm afraid I have just hit one - after several months of research, including time dedicated to educating my co-workers on the benefits of switching from 24 lb. chlorine bleached, virgin paper to 100% recycled, 20 lb. non-bleached, my company agreed to move forward with the greener of the two. After only one week however, our Canon Color Imagerunner C3200 copier stopped working and required the services of a technician to get things back up and running. To my dismay, he informed me that this copier (and in fact all copiers) are not designed to handle recycled papers due to the fact that these papers typically have more loose fibers that settle on the copier's rollers, creating a build up that will stop the machine cold in short order. Has anyone else experienced just such a problem or perhaps know of a recycle paper with less fibers?
Thank you!
Barbara Treves
DARRELL SCHMITT DESIGN ASSOCIATES
6030 Wilshire Boulevard, #200,
Los Angeles, CA 90036
T 323 951.9283, F 323 951.9231
Roadblocks to Sustainable Behaviour
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Thank you Paul for your post which arrived at a most opportune time - just as two senior Canon technicians began working on our machine. I suggested to them that perhaps they were misinformed in their assertion regarding the incompatibility between copier & recycled paper but they were adamant. They explained that because our copier is a color copier, it uses a "static coating" process which more precisely controls the colored powders onto the paper and recycled papers just don't work with this type of process. Black and white copiers BTW, work fine with recycled papers. Of course this is very disappointing to me as we generate a tremendous amount of paper in this office; a great deal of which is wasted. If I could get everyone to at least print on the back side of this waste paper then we'd at least be making sustainable inroads. Unfortunately this is not done and I find myself daily grabbing paper, printed on one side only from the wastebasket next to the copier. Thank goodness for list serves like this one. I will continue to monitor the weekly digests to find ways to "foster sustainable behaviour" in my co-workers.
Barbara
Hi Barbara,
It's true that some recycled papers throw off lots of fibers, but it's not nearly the issue it was 10 or 15 years ago. Repair people will jump on recycled paper as the problem, partly because it used to be true, and because it takes the blame off their equipment. A machine that bends the paper a lot as it rolls along can cause the shorter recycled fibers to come loose, whereas a machine that passes paper straight through doesn't do that. The trick is to get the right paper. I've used a 100% post-consumer recycled paper from Xerox for a few years now. It's marked "Laser- Inkjet-Copier-Fax", acid-free and chlorine-free, 84 brightness. It looks and acts just like the non-recycled bond, and it has caused no problems at all in my 4 year-old Minolta 7300 color laserprinter and Canon copier, and no problems with my Brother fax or HP and Epson inkjets (one of which is almost 7 years old). I also have used 100% (30% PC) Environment Text from Neenah Paper (Kimberly-Clark), mostly in the laserprinter. I got it for about $3 a ream from Kinko's because the wrappers had come undone a little, though the paper wasn't damaged at all. Neenah also makes 100% PC in white and natural. Kinko's uses this paper, so it goes through their high-speed copiers and printers just fine. They charge $18-28 a ream, so I don't buy it from them but you can get it at neenahpaper.com (still expensive though, and then there's shipping). You're right to keep trying! It's entirely possible to switch to 100% recycled paper that is reasonably priced and works in all kinds of machines.
Terre
GAIA GRAPHICS ....
creative by nature Terre Dunivant
[email protected]
[email protected]
805-544-9676
office 805-704-5433
cell 805-543-3813
fax 866-232-1519 tollfree
Barbara,
This "loose fiber" lint problem exists for some lower-quality recycled papers, but there are plenty of recycled products that meet printer specifications. One of the best disinterested (non-proprietary) sources of information on this is Conservatree.org.
Bill Carter
Water Quality Monitoring & Assessment MC
165 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
P.O. Box 13087 Austin, TX 78711-3087
Phone: 512-239-6771
Fax: 512-239-4410
[email protected]
In response to the question about recycled paper having loose fibers and causing copier problems: The Washington Department of Ecology switched several years ago to 100%, post-consumer, non-chlorine bleached paper, from Grays Harbor Paper Company in Hoquiam, Washington. In fact, our staff worked with the paper company and the state government purchasers to support the company in starting production of this. It's called Harbor/100 Recycled Xerographic. Here's the company Web site: http://www.ghplp.com/ This paper works just fine in all our printer/copiers, both the Xerox machines we had and the Ricoh machines that replaced them. I don't know whether the problem is the type of copier you have or the paper you are using, but I agree the "recycled paper causes copier problems" is not a valid response. (I have learned, however, that any paper that has the chance to gather everyday air-borne dust, which can happen if the paper is left out of the wrapper for a while before being put in the copier, can cause problems.)
Mariann Cook Andrews
Hazardous Waste & Toxic Reduction
Washington Dept. of Ecology
(360) 407-6740
FAX (360) 407-6715
[email protected]
You might want to contact Kinkos. They have recycled, non-bleached paper available for their copy machines so clearly someone makes machines that use it or else there is a paper available with fewer fibers that they use.
Good luck!
Gail Ellis
School Programs Manager
The Oakland Zoo
9777 Golf Links Rd. Oakland, CA 94605
510-632-9525 ext.121
Dear Barbara,
Understanding you have done a lot of research before switching, have you considered undertaking a trial? A trial can often alleviate concerns from all levels of staff and sub-contractors, and can last for as long as agreed. It's difficult to push a 'problem' initiative otherwise, unless you have managerial / policy support. Once people are used to and comfortable with a change then it can be smooth sailing thereafter. My local Officeworks store will not do print runs on recycled paper for colour copies - only B&W. I intend to send a letter to Head Office asking why.
Good luck.
Kathleen Esdaile
Green Office Consulting Manager
Going Solar 60L Green Building
60 Leicester St, Carlton VIC 3053
Ph & Fax: 03 9557 1971
m. 0408 571 971
Hi Barbara (and all),
Along with dust, paper should be stored away from anywhere it might be affected by moisture, and should also be fanned before being loaded. There are recycled papers I am aware of that work fine in colour printers (eg. Evolve Business), but they are the wrong size for the US. Just for interest, in Australia claims that recycled paper somehow impedes the performance of office machines may be a breach of the Trades Practices Act! Trade Practices Act 1974 Claims that the use of recycled office paper will increase the cost of service agreements and violate product warranties or that only a company specific brand of paper can be used in their equipment, may constitute a breach of the Trade Practices Act 1974. Under the Trade Practices Act 1974, it is an offence to mislead the public about the characteristics or suitability for purpose of any goods. It is also an offence to make a false or misleading representation about the exclusion or effect of any condition, warranty or guarantee. If a competitor's recycled paper is identical or equivalent in performance to their own, equipment manufacturers or suppliers cannot legally discriminate against the competing products. This applies to misleading claims about competing products and also to attempts to establish bias through conditions in service contracts and warranties. As a result no office equipment manufacturer can legally discourage the use of recycled paper if it meets the specifications for the machine in which it will be used. www.environment.nsw.gov.au/education/spd_officewasteguides.htm (p 11 of document, p 15 in Acrobat) The other argument you can put to technicians who trot out this 20th century explanation for copier or printer malfunction is this: 1. Determine how many reams you are consuming, then work out many sheets you are consuming (not sure if its different o/s but here 1 ream = 500 sheets A4 paper). Make sure management knows about this, make sure staff know about this, get it into whatever kind of annual report or public record you can. One State government agency in South Australia used 1185 reams the first year the data was captured, that's 592,000 sheets of paper - only 68% of this was recycled paper (specs are 100% recycled, minimum 50% post consumer content, not bleached using chlorine or chlorine compounds). The same agency is now at 95% in terms of purchasing environmentally responsible paper, largely due to the sustained efforts of a dedicated Greening Program Manager. 2. Point out to equipment techs that that while your organisation uses xxx sheets of paper per year, then the environmental impact is with the paper, and in future you will be specifying equipment that *can* handle recycled paper, duplex printing etc. That should send your copier techs scurrying and maybe foster some sustainable behaviour back up the supply chain! In 2001, the Dept for Environment and EPA here in South Australia invested in upgrading printers which could do duplex printing and made a 22% and a 38% saving respectively on paper purchased in the first eight months: www.environment.sa.gov.au/dehaa/pdfs/annual_parl02.pdf (p111 of document, p116 in Acrobat)
Cheers,
Sharon Ede
Project Officer
Greening of Government Operations (Waste)
Zero Waste SA
Simple fix...A bit late but still help-full, is spending 5 minutes a week cleaning the rollers that are accessible internally AND in the paper tray with alcohol and a cloth (not cotton). This will gently clean the dirt, fibers and build up off the rollers and keep paper flowing through the machine with less service calls. I used to work for Canon Corp.
Paul Jewell
United States
We use 100%, post consumer recycled content paper purchased from Staples with no problems in our copy machine (Sharp AR-M208-N). We've heard the "recycled paper jams the copier" line in the past. I'm not completely sure, but I think this is one of those urban myths.
Paul A. Tomasi
Executive Director
Northeast Kingdom Waste Management District
802-626-3532