End of an odd eco-saga at work

As part of my personal crusade to try and get my employer to buy responsible paper supplies that are either recycled or FSC rate, I seem to have become a bit of an environmental consultant. Someone phoned me from France asking me where to buy responsible wood pallets. Somewhat taken aback by the request quite a way outside my normal job (though central to my hobbies outside work), I did manage to give them some advice and potential suppliers (for example from the UK FSC Product Finder).

They told me today that they specified FSC wood on the contracts and today closed those deals with 5 suppliers who will supply FSC pallets and even re-use some.

Wow! Sometimes you just need to bend the ear of the right person and magic happens. I'm very impressed. I spend years fighting and fighting to get people to understand that some printer paper comes from illegal logging and is easily traceable to illegal indonesian logging. And then one day someone just phones out of the blue and asks about pallets, I dig out a few suppliers and background material and whoosh - these guys have changed th way we are doing business.

I wish I could find a way to capture that magic and re-apply it! This seems little to do with corporate behaviour, more just finding someone in control who is willing to listen to environmental concerns and do something about it.