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Green Office & School Supplies
Written by Sustainable Lafayette, based on an interview with Chris Lane (cslane@ccstationers.com), the owner of Contra Costa Stationers.

Challenge
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Contra Costa Stationers is a small office supply and stationery store located near Trader Joes. The owner, Chris Lane, has been a member of the Chamber of Commerce since 1975 and is currently an advisor to the Chamber's Board of Directors. During the past couple years he’s become more and more conscious of the need for his business to be environmentally-friendly and has looked for opportunities to offer recycling of old office supplies and to offer products made from recycled material where it is feasible and products are well-priced.


Solution Details
Offering Recycled Products – Chris got started with recycled office supplies a full 10 years ago when he began selling file folders made from recycled material, made by SMEAD. He now also carries copy/printer paper made with 30% recycled content and large desktop calendars made with recycled paper.

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Last summer one of his avid customers, and a mother of four, asked if he could provide school binders and notebook paper made from 100% recycled material. Chris figured if there were customers ready to buy it, there wasn’t much risk in ordering a case of each. He did a little research and ended up purchasing school notebooks called “environotes” and school notebook paper made by Envirotech (shown in picture)—both 100% recycled. The customer that prompted the order proudly announced “this is now the only stationery store within 20 miles that carries recycled lined paper and has a large selection of recycled papers and products.” Chris said “the biggest issue is the price. The paper is $8 for a pack instead of $3. But there have been a steady stream of buyers and my initial order is almost gone. I could bring the price down with more volume.”

In the past couple years the number of products made from recycled materials has exploded. Chris said the office supply catalogs are now “loaded with stuff” (that is recycled). He pointed to recycled pens, pencils, calendars, and many other items that are now available. Unlike a large chain store, Chris said he can work one-on-one with his customers and order any green products that they want, as long as he knows there is enough demand to sell what he orders.

Chris thinks it would make a big difference if he could get his hands on shelf talkers that showed where all the recycled products are in his store. He's going to work on that.

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Recycling Drop-Off – Besides selling recycled products, Contra Costa Stationers has become a community collection point for old printer cartridges, cell phones, and batteries. Chris just started collecting batteries in 2007 and has been surprised by the response. He said “I have two full bins of batteries every other week!”

Recycling Store Trash - Chris recently ordered and received a 96 gallon recycle bin from Waste Management. With the new bin, he is now recycling 85-90% of his store's trash.



Benefits & Payback
By offering green office and school supplies, Contra Costa Stationers is helping the environment in two ways: by allowing customers to shop local (reducing the miles they have to drive), and by offering new environmentally-friendly products that are specifically desired by the Lafayette community.

Collecting old print cartridges, cell phones, and batteries is a valuable community service that is helping to reduce the amount of these items that end up in landfills.

The new recycle bin has allowed Chris to reduce the number of pickups for his dumpster and is saving more than the amount to cover the recycle bin.

Slowly but surely, Chris feels that his store is on it’s way to becoming part of the solution to climate change, versus being part of the problem.


Informational Links
Waste Management - Business Recycling Programs


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