New brand strikes balance between sustainability and performance.

Complete Office Supplies (COS) has launched a new range of office paper which it claims will significantly reduce Australia’s environmental footprint.

‘New Future Opti’, supplied by global paper firm UPM and exclusive to COS, is described as being 15 per cent lighter than all other Australian office paper and is packaged in a 100 per cent recyclable wrapper, claimed to be a first in the Australian market.

Belinda Lyone, general manager of COS, said: “New Future Opti will change the paper industry in Australia for the better and strikes the perfect balance between sustainability and performance.

“Many of us are working hard towards using less paper, however the reality is that organisations and individuals are still using 200,000 tons annually. New Future Opti uses 15 per cent less ‘paper’ than its competitors, and its biodegradable plastic free wrapper can be recycled which is not the case for any other office paper product in Australia.

“The recyclable wrapper, as well as using less material to create the same product is a big step forward in the office supplies industry towards a being more environmentally responsible,” Lyone said.

“As well as using less material to make the paper, New Future Opti is produced responsibly, its fibres come from sustainably managed forests, and it meets the industry’s most demanding responsibility criteria.

“Although New Future Opti is a lighter option, it won’t cause any problems with printing or copying,” she said. “New Future Opti has been tested by an independent testing facility and COS has performed blind tests with customers, who have reported no problems with using the paper.”

Lyone said New Future Opti will be a “good alternate choice” for government agencies, who are the largest customers in office paper at COS.

“On average, a government agency customer at COS uses 20 per cent more paper than a large corporate, especially if the agency is related to health,” said Ms Lyone.

“Government agencies in NSW purchase the most, followed by Victoria and then Western Australia. If these customers move to New Future Opti, the reduction on Australia’s environmental footprint would be substantial.”

“Currently one third of the paper we sell at COS is recycled.  The main reason a business doesn’t switch to a recycled paper is they can’t afford to pay more. New Future Opti is a great alternative for this group of customers. “New Future Opti is also cost competitive, making it an affordable alternative,” she said.

According to COS, a report by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN, said that Australia is in the top 26 countries that have more than double the global average paper consumption per capita, coming in at 146kg per person per year.  

A report by the NSW Department of Environmental and Climate Change found Australians use about 1.72 million tonnes of printing and writing paper each year, equivalent to 40 million trees. It was also estimated that over 700,000 tonnes of paper and products are sent to landfill each year.