Notably, the Council includes only environmentalists and industrialists. They did not expect to agree on anything. But when these major stakeholders got together and listened to each other, they found broad agreement on maintaining environmental standards and using market mechanisms to enforce them rather than approaches requiring government command and control. Ironically, one of the most effective actions by the Government in the United States was when President Clinton exploited the government's role in the market. In 1993, he issued an executive order requiring that all government purchases of paper should contain 20 percent recycled content by the end of 1994 and 30 percent by 1998.
Some state governments have similar regulations.
Needless to say, given the government's appetite for paper, the market for recycled paper went from a negative value to a positive value very quickly. Also, the technology has improved under the market conditions and recycled paper is almost identical in quality to paper using new fibers. There is also a recognition that government regulation cannot adequately encapsulate complex knowledge about a product's environmental impact. So the issue is not just green engineering techniques, but the establishment of decision-making mechanisms and incentive systems that promote their use. The Harbinger is a biweekly newspaper published through the effort of The Harbinger , which consists of area faculty, staff and students, and members of the Mobile community.