Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 58.49
Liaison Richard Johnson
Submission Date Nov. 11, 2014
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.0

Rice University
OP-14: Office Paper Purchasing

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 1.00

Criteria

Part 1 

Institution has an institution-wide stated preference to purchase office paper that has recycled content, is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and/or is certified to meet similar multi-criteria sustainability standards for paper. This can take the form of purchasing policies, guidelines, or directives. 

Policies and directives adopted by entities of which the institution is part (e.g. government or the university system) may count for this credit as long as the policies apply to and are followed by the institution. 

Part 2 

Institution purchases office paper with post-consumer recycled, agricultural residue, and/or FSC certified content.  


Applicability

This credit applies to all institutions. 


Scoring

Each part is scored independently. 

Part 1 

Institutions earn 0.25 points for Part 1 for having an institution-wide stated preference to purchase to purchase office paper that has recycled content, is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and/or is certified to meet similar multi-criteria sustainability standards for paper. Partial points are not available. 

Part 2

Institutions earn the maximum of 0.75 points available for Part 2 of this credit by purchasing exclusively office paper that contains 90-100 percent post-consumer recycled and/or agricultural residue content and/or is FSC Recycled certified. Incremental points are awarded based on the percentage of office paper purchased with post-consumer recycled, agricultural residue, and/or FSC certified content. For example, if 50 percent of all office paper purchased by an institution was 90-100 percent post-consumer recycled content, the institution would earn 0.375 points (half of the points available for Part 2 of this credit). 

See scoring table and example in the STARS Technical Manual.


Measurement

Timeframe

Part 1 

Report on current policies, directives, or guidelines. 

Part 2 

Report the most recent data available. 

Sampling and Data Standards 

Part 1 

Report on purchasing policies, directives or guidelines that apply to the entire institution. 

Part 2 

Institutions may track purchases over a one-year time period or take a representative sample to determine the recycled content of office paper purchased. When using a sample, institutions should strive to ensure that the sample recognizes seasonal and other variations that influence purchasing behavior. 

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.