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The Offenbach district is once again one of the most recycling paper-friendly districts in Germany. Only paper with the Blue Angel is used in the administration, which makes it one of the best practice examples in the 2021 paper atlas district competition of the Pro Recycling Paper (IPR) initiative.
“The award confirms that we are striving to make a contribution to protecting the climate and resources at all levels,” says District Administrator Oliver Quilling. “The use of exclusively environmentally friendly paper and the advancing digitization with the abandonment of printed documents also make a contribution that should not be underestimated.”
In 2020, the district administration used around 5.15 million sheets of recycled paper. Compared to fresh fiber paper, its production saves at least 60 percent water and energy and causes significantly fewer CO2 emissions. In this way, the district saved more than 814,000 liters of water and over 167,000 kilowatt hours of energy last year. This amount of water covers the daily drinking water needs of 6,732 people. The energy saving corresponds to the annual energy consumption of 47 three-person households.
The paper atlas has been showing paper consumption and the proportion of paper with the Blue Angel in German districts since 2018. Partners are the Federal Environment Ministry, the Federal Environment Agency and the German District Association. This year the competition reached a new record number of participants with 67 counties using an average of 84 percent recycled paper. The “most recycled paper-friendly district” is the district of Ebersberg. The “Newcomer of the Year” award goes to the Unstrut-Hainich district. In addition to the district competition, the paper atlas has been held for cities since 2008 and for universities since 2016. This year’s awards go to the cities of Leverkusen, Solingen and Oberhausen as well as the universities of Bremen, Tübingen and Passau.
(Text: PM Kreis Offenbach)
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