Santa Monica and the largest cities and counties in California, including the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Berkeley, Pasadena, Santa Barbara, and the County of Marin, have pledged to purchase only 100% post-consumer recycled copy paper.

The environmental executives of these jurisdictions have joined together to form Green Cities California (GCC) for the purpose of taking action cooperatively and collectively to accelerate local, regional, national and international efforts to achieve sustainability.

Together, GCC members annually purchase half a billion sheets of office paper, at a cost exceeding $5 million dollars.  By converting to 100% post-consumer recycled paper, the ten cities and counties will see their governments save 67,000 trees, 8,600,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, 19,600,000 gallons of water, and 11,500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity.

“Although Santa Monica has it easy on this one, due to the fact that we made the switch from 50% to 100% post-consumer copy paper in 2004, we look forward to working with GCC members to push for greater reform in sustainable procurement among other pending initiatives,” said Craig Perkins, director of the Environmental & Public Works Management Department.

In addition to converting to 100% recycled paper, the cities and counties are also committed to increasing double-sided copying and using multi-function machines to store documents electronically rather than printing them.  Savings from double-sided copying and reduced paper use can more than offset any additional costs for purchasing recycled paper.

Future GCC collaborative campaigns will focus on the elimination of bottled water, purchase of local foods and carbon offsets; and promoting manufacturer responsibility for solid and toxic waste.  Initial GCC meetings were funded in part by the Blackstone Ranch Institute of California.