Hi all -
 
I'm a long time lurker and have benefited greatly from the sage advise
and wisdom of this group.  I am the Records Manager for the Minnesota
Pollution Control Agency.  One of our operational strategic objectives
is to reduce the organization's carbon footprint by repurposing
materials and reducing consumption and thereby reducing waste
generation.  Recently, our Sustainability Manager inquired about my
perspective on having designated printers within our buildings with a
restriction imposed that they be used only for printing of nonrecord
documents.   For a long time, I've held fast to the position that using
recycled (meaning printing on the other side of discarded paper)
compromises our record system integrity because the probability is very
high that disparate or inappropriate information will end up in the
files.  The organization has respected this position.   The new
operational goal of replacing printers as they expire and directing
employees to print to area copiers is being implemented.  These MFD
copiers are less expensive to maintain and have a neat feature of
applying an automatic clock to each print job.  If the document is not
retrieved within 3 days from the print queue then the print request is
deleted.  The assumption is that the employees will not be making
thoughtless decisions to print everything because the clock will be
ticking on their decisions.  
 
As with all organizations, our employees struggle with "what is a
record".  My opinion on the suggestion to have dedicated printers that
use only reusable paper is mixed.  I see the overall benefit, however,
I'm not confident that the inappropriate materials won't still make it
the files.   The Sustainability Manager has asked me to identify the
boundaries of what should not be allowed to be printed on repurposed
paper from a document management perspective.  Since my bias is strong,
I thought I would pose the question to you.  Your opinions are
appreciated.
 
Chris Johnson
Records Manager
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
651-757-2472
 

List archives at http://lists.ufl.edu/archives/recmgmt-l.html
Contact [log in to unmask] for assistance
To unsubscribe from this list, click the below link. If not already present, place UNSUBSCRIBE RECMGMT-L or UNSUB RECMGMT-L in the body of the message.
mailto:[log in to unmask]