Legal & General purchases 2,500 tonnes of paper each year, almost half of which is coated paper used for marketing literature. Purchases of copier paper (350 tonnes per annum) had already been changed to a 100% recycled product in 2004, but our marketing paper (some 1,100 tonnes pa) still comprised 100% virgin pulp. An initiative to identify, trial and approve an acceptable paper with a high recycled content commenced in 2005 and was successfully concluded in June 2006.
This change to a recycled content marketing paper will save over 10,500 trees each year from being cut down and, with the savings from the use of recycled copier paper, this figure rises to nearly 17,000 trees - equivalent to over half of Sherwood Forest Country Park (Ref: Environment Agency).
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) described the project with Legal & General as a ‘Trail Blazer’, on the basis of the Company’s willingness to commit resources to the project and to consider a change to recycled content paper for the printing of its main marketing literature.
In recognition of its support of the initiative to increase the recycled content of our marketing paper, our approved print management provider, Adare, was awarded the 2006 Making a Difference supplier award (see ‘Our Communities’ for more information on our Making a Difference Awards).
The criteria to determine our environmental key suppliers were further extended in 2006 to reflect an increased emphasis upon risk rather than spend, based upon FTSE4Good guidelines. For the first time since the commencement of the programme, 100% of these suppliers were compliant with our environmental standards.
The CSR engagement programme involved over half of identified key suppliers. The focus was upon suppliers providing services traditionally based within the ‘low skill/low wage’ industries, 61% of which were the subject of engagement in 2006.
“Adare is delighted to have won the Making a Difference supplier award 2006 and we consider it extremely positive that we can support
Legal & General in areas such as the environment and CSR. We are honoured to have been involved in these awards for a number of years and we will continue to work with
Legal & General in future initiatives.”
Adare, winner of the 2006 ‘Making a Difference’ Supplier award (MAD)
“Working with the Procurement team at
Legal & General provided an exemplar case study for WRAP’s research project, aimed at demonstrating that papers with recycled content are a competitive option for business applications. Following successful completion of the project, the case study will give other companies confidence that print and paper suppliers can offer solutions that incur no penalties in terms of purchase cost, performance/risk and product availability, and in specifying requirements for recycled content within the procurement process.”
Judith Palmer, Procurement Programme Project Officer, Waste & Resources Action Programme