Community Based Forest Management programs are a proven way to meet the goals we laid out for sustainability by conserving forest resources, while at the same time helping people in developing countries to earn a living. Since most of these programs are located outside of the United States, how can we provide support to help keep these programs in place? As a solution I can try to implement, I have decided to petition my college’s purchasing department to switch to only buying paper that is Forest Stewardship Council certified, since these papers are guaranteed to come from sustainably managed forests, which for the most part come from CBFM programs. To be successful, I would have to convince the Purchasing Manager to use one of the papers from a list of certified suppliers that I will provide to him. Barriers to implementing this change will be additional cost if any, and paper contracts that might already be in place. My target audience is the Purchasing Manager and staff, but I might also contact our campus’s Sustainability Committee, which is made up of professors and students who are motivated to make Muhlenberg College a leading college in sustainability practices. This would be a backup if the Purchasing Department has objections to the proposal. Measurable indicators of the success of my plan will be the implementation of change in the purchasing of paper for the college to FSC certified papers college-wide.
In order to try to bring about this change, I will be putting together a proposal to show the environmental advantages of using FSC certified paper. I will include a list of papers that other companies who have already made this commitment are using, as well as case studies of some of these companies that show their reasoning and commitment. I will make an appointment with our Purchasing Department Manager to present my proposal (shown below). I will answer any questions or objections and respond back with the requested information within one week, and I will follow up on the decision process after 4 weeks. If there still seems to be a lack of urgency or commitment, I will ask to present the proposal at the next meeting of the campus Sustainability Committee to see if I can gather support for this initiative, and ask them to also contact the Purchasing Department about implementing this policy. If there is a contract for paper already in place, I will ask that at the close of this contract bids will go out for FSC paper.
connect-assign-1Links from Proposal
FSC Certified Paper: https://us.fsc.org/en-us/market/paper-printing
Stanford University Green Commitment: https://web.stanford.edu/group/fms/fingate/staff/buypaying/policy_notes/sustainable_purchase.html#resource
Vanderbilt University Green Commitment: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/sustainability/what-we-do/printing/
Forest Stewardship Council Website: Five things you need to know about ‘FSC Recycled’
