Eaton Peabody: Bringing New Ideas to Old Practices
June 11, 2010
Law firms are not known for embracing change, but they are known for gathering evidence and making a compelling case. Eaton Peabody, one of Maine's oldest and best-known law firms, has taken the well-established mantra of "zealously representing clients" and applied it to sustainability. Like good lawyers, they have gathered the evidence and made their case for sustainability. It's a case that's hard to argue with.
Eaton Peabody first implemented a sustainability initiative in 2009. Part of the initial plan developed a Sustainability Team and Sustainability Coordinator. Since that time, the Sustainability Team has been incrementally implementing sustainability practices into Eaton Peabody's everyday operations.
The practice of law is a paper-intensive business. Recognizing an opportunity to make a positive environmental impact and reduce operational costs, Eaton Peabody set about implementing a waste reduction and recycling plan. The waste reduction plan focuses on goods purchased, operational changes and waste disposal. On the front end, Eaton Peabody's plan calls for purchasing copy/printer paper and file folders with a minimum of 25% post-consumer recycled content; letterhead, envelopes, and legal pads with 25% post-consumer recycled content; consumer tissue with at least 50% post-consumer recycled content; and preference for all products with recycled content whenever available at a cost of up to 10% more than the same item without recycled content.
Operationally, Eaton Peabody has also implemented a number of procedures that reduce paper waste while still fulfilling the filing requirements of courts and government agencies. Examples of these procedures include electronic filing, receipting and routing of incoming faxes, scanning instead of copying, and double-sided printing. In order to ensure best practices around paper reduction, training and staff education programs emphasize the costs of endless printing of draft documents that can be viewed on the screen and the importance of recycling paper as much as possible.
With waste disposal and recycling Eaton Peabody faced numerous challenges. Since much of the paper waste created by a law firm is confidential, great care must be taken when disposing of that material. True to the firm's commitment to sustainability, Eaton Peabody went to significant lengths to implement a recycling plan applicable to confidential documents entering the waste stream. This paper is now collected and shredded immediately and confidentially by a contractor specializing in paper management for law firms and other companies with sensitive documents. The contractor delivers the shredded waste paper to paper mills for reprocessing and sale back into the market. A number of the mills using shredded post-consumer waste are local, making Eaton Peabody's program not only environmentally friendly, but supportive of local, Maine-based businesses. Since that paper has already been through the pulping and bleaching process, every ton of paper that is sent back to the mills for recycling saves 12 trees if it's used in 50% post-consumer content paper and 24 trees if it's 100% post-consumer content recycled paper. Non-confidential paper is either used as scrap paper or taken to the Penobscot Energy Recovery Company, a trash to electricity facility located in Orrington which captures the energy used in the incineration process and converts it to power.
"For us, reducing the amount of paper and ink we use will result in a cost savings that will be of benefit to our clients. We know we want to implement these practices to reduce our negative environmental impact, but we also have a mandate to provide our clients with the best service and best value possible. Reducing our operational overhead through reduction of waste is a simple way to achieve both ends," says Tamrah Brown, Eaton Peabody's Sustainability Coordinator.
Eaton Peabody continues to seek opportunities to implement sustainable practices into its operations. "The practice of law relies heavily on precedent and tradition," says Brown. "But where opportunities exist to re-think those practices, we have an obligation to break with tradition. We believe our sustainable practices will serve us and our clients well - and we hope to inspire other businesses to re-evaluate and change their operational practices as we have."
Courtesy of the Maine Businesses for Sustainability, June ENews
