Most paper is manufactured from pulp from virgin forests. Clear cutting of forests destroys ecosystems, degrades water quality, facilitates erosion, and contributes to species extinction. Paper production contributes to significant air and water pollution. A key element in a commitment to environmentally sustainable practices involves setting goals for recycled content in paper products and then using each firm's considerable technical skills and purchasing clout to find the ways to get there.

Large corporate paper users such as consumer goods companies, publishers, office paper manufacturers, catalog mail order companies, and packaging producers need to pay attention to the long-term sustainability of the product that provides their profits. They need to consider following Home Depot's lead by phasing out sourcing raw materials from endangered forests, and Staples and Office Depot who have agreed to achieve high-level recycled content goals for paper they sell to reduce economic pressure on the world's dwindling forests.

There were important victories in 2002 and 2004 resulting in office supply chains committing to use of recycled content paper. Thanks to an consumer advocate campaign led by the NGO Forest Ethics, and a separate but complementary shareholder initiative by As You Sow and other investors, both leading US office paper supply companies agreed to increased use of recycled content and to phase out sourcing from endangered forest areas. Trillium Asset Management and Calvert Group also engaged with the companies as socially concerned investors.