I noticed different paper towels and toilet paper in the campus bathrooms-why the change?

New paper towel and toilet paper dispensers 

Q:   I noticed different paper towels and toilet paper in the campus bathrooms-why the change? 

A:   During winter quarter, Facilities switched from Georgia Pacific (GP) to Kimberly-Clark (KC) paper towels, toilet paper, soap and hand sanitizer in every academic building. (The old stock of paper was moved to the resident halls, so those buildings will be converted as soon as it is used up.) Facilities changed vendors for the following reasons: 

$25,000 annual cost reduction.  SU was buying 3,600 batteries every year to power the GP towel dispensers at a cost of $2,700 plus the labor to change batteries. The new KC towel dispensers use mechanical touch-less technology. Along with a reduction in product cost, tube-less toilet paper and paper towel rolls result in more paper per roll, less rolls to buy and fewer roll changes by custodians.   The soap dispenser squirts out less soap, resulting in less usage. KC's foaming sanitizer costs less and uses less product to get the same job done.  

50 percent less packaging. No paper tube, no individually paper-wrapped toilet paper and towel rolls, no cardboard boxes and 100 percent of the towel and toilet paper roll is used. The custodians used to remove and throw away almost empty toilet paper rolls. 

Kimberly-Clark's environmentally sustainable initiatives. KC has cooperated with Greenpeace since 2008 to switch to sustainable practices after Greenpeace's aggressive four-year campaign against KC for using trees from Canada's Boreal Forest. KC's virgin wood fiber is certified by third party groups like the Forest Stewardship Council. Paper contains high levels of recycled fiber. Their soap is Green Seal Certified. Technology and packaging design is used to reduce the amount of natural resources used in products.

Thank you to Karen Price, campus sustainability manager, for providing this information.