One reason people are reluctant to buy recycled paper is that it’s believed to be inferior to paper products made from recently felled trees. That perception, widespread as it may be, is not necessarily correct.
I’ve happily used 100% recycled copy paper for years, starting with Xerox’s 100% recycled paper (which has become increasingly hard to find, even online), but now use Staples 100% recycled copy paper, with comparable results when printing or copying.
Recycled copy paper is as smooth as the typical copy paper, so it prints and copies as well as other copy paper, as long as it is the same weight (20 lb.) of typical office copy paper, which this is. (Recycled lined writing pads, however, vary noticeably in quality, although there are good ones.)
The only real difference is price, as the recycled paper is more costly than regular copy paper. However, combining thrifty printing methods (double sided printing, always using print preview, regularly selecting text) allows me to use much less paper and ink, and recycling the ink cartridges gets me rewards points (in essence, a monthly coupon), effectively offsetting the initial expense.
This one step, switching the office copy/print paper to 100% recycled copy paper, makes it easier to be green! (Sorry, Kermit the frog.)
P.S. When is Mark Buckley going to have Staples yank the rewards commercial which implies that no one need shake toner cartridges if you have them recycled later? The time-honored tradition of toner shaking saves SO much ink that it will be an office mainstay as long as there are printers and copiers.
Good and Green 