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By Lookout Staff

March 6 -- In a move to remain one of the nation’s most sustainable cities, Santa Monica joined nine California cities and counties that pledged this week to purchase only 100 percent post-consumer recycled copy paper.

Environmental officials of the jurisdictions -- which include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Sacramento, Berkeley, Pasadena and Santa Barbara -- joined to form Green Cities California (GCC), which will work together to push ahead sustainable efforts.

By converting to the recycled paper, the ten cities and counties -- which annually purchase half a billion sheets of office paper, at a cost of more than $5 million -- will save 67,000 trees, 8,600,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, 19,600,000 gallons of water and 11,500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, according to the GCC.

“Although Santa Monica has it easy on this one, due to the fact that we made the switch from 50 percent to 100 post-consumer copy paper in 2004, we look forward to working with GCC members to push for greater reform in sustainable procurement among other pending initiatives,” said Craig Perkins, director of the Environmental & Public Works Management Department.

In addition to converting to 100 recycled paper, the cities and counties pledged to boost double-sided copying and use multi-function machines to store documents electronically without resorting to print, City officials said.

The GCC collaborative campaigns will also begin to focus on eliminating bottled water, purchasing local foods and promoting manufacturer responsibility for solid and toxic waste.

Other collective Eco-Actions to reduce climate change and help enhance California’s environment will be announced by member cities each quarter.

Initial GCC meetings were funded in part by the Blackstone Ranch Institute of California.