Sustainability is becoming a priority at St. Edward’s University. The Business Office and Human Resources Office along with the Marketing Office have taken initiative to go paperless.

The Business Office and Human Resources has taken a big step to go paperless.

Associate Vice President for Financial Affairs, Bart Glaser, said the move toward going paperless had to do with efficiency.

“There is a very close relationship between reducing paper and enhancing the productivity and efficiencies in the offices,” he said. “Many of the savings we have achieved came about because we systematically reviewed the major procedures that we employ in our departments and took action to simplify and streamline those waste.”

Due to Marketing’s switch to Mohawk paper in 2010, a significant amount of natural resources have been saved. In total, 622 trees were preserved for the future, 1,796 water-borne waste was not created, 26,4262 gallons of wastewater flow was saved, 29,239 lbs. of solid waste was not generated, 57,570 lbs. net of greenhouse gases were prevented, and 440,652,240 BTUs of energy were not consumed.

As an added benefit, because the paper was manufactured with wind power and carbon offsets, 71,282 lbs greenhouse gas emissions were not generated and 76 barrels of fuel oil went unused. This is equivalent to taking six cars off the road for one year and planting 4,849 trees, according to Qunell.

The Marketing Office is not only using recycled paper, they also now print large-format posters and banners on materials that use post-consumer waste and/or are recyclable. The cost difference is minimal, print quality and durability is not sacrificed and the university’s single-stream recycling handles these materials.

Offices at St. Edward’s also work with campus offices to create e-mail campaigns, social media presence, and online content to supplement and/or replace printed marketing pieces. Not only is that more sustainable, it’s also smart integrated marketing, Qunell said.

According to Qunell, recent research shows that the university’s primary audience (prospective students and their parents) still want colleges to mail them information during their college search process. To remain competitive in a very crowded space, St. Edward’s must continue to create traditional printed recruiting pieces.

“We’ll continue to advise university offices to build their online presence so print pieces might be eliminated,” Qunell said.