Congressional Record Votes for Recycling

The United States Government Printing Office (GPO) and the U.S. Congress have announced that the GPO began printing the Congressional Record on 100 percent recycled-content paper.

 

The Congressional Record, the official record of the proceedings and debates of Congress, is printed by GPO every day that Congress is in session. In a news release, GPO says it has been testing 100 percent recycled paper throughout 2009. “Those tests showed no difference in printability or run-ability as compared to the 40 percent post-consumer [scrap] recycled paper GPO has been using for years,” says the organization.

 

“It puts the official proceedings of Congress on recycled paper and that is good for our environment and good for our future,” says Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. “This is one more step in the ‘Green the Capitol’ program—making sustainability a priority, placing conservation and energy efficiency at the top of our agenda, and putting America’s leaders at the forefront of an issue that affects all Americans.”

“Sustainable Environmental Stewardship is both good business and good government,” declared Tapella. “The Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the Senate are both very much in favor of environmental initiatives, and printing the Congressional Record on 100 percent recycled newsprint is one step further in advancing their agendas.”

 

The GPO describes itself as “the federal government’s primary centralized resource for gathering, cataloging, producing, providing, authenticating, and preserving published U.S. government information in all its forms.” More information on the organization is available at www.gpo.gov.