The U.S Government Printing Office (GPO) handles a lot more than the printing for the U.S. federal government. GPO staffers also gather, catalog, authenticate, produce, supply and preserve basically all of the government’s information. When it comes to using paper, the GPO is an expert.

The current head of the GPO, or the "Public Printer of the U.S.," as the position is titled, is Robert C. Tapella. He recently gave a speech called, “The GPO and the American Printing Industry Move Forward with Sustainable Environmental Stewardship.” A full PDF of the speech is available through the GPO’s website.

Under Tapella’s leadership, the GPO has made significant sustainability advances, including distributing the Budget of the U.S. Government as a PDF, saving an untold number of trees. The budget, for the record, is not much more than 100 pages, but when you consider the thousands of pages of supplemental material needed to understand the budget, as well as the thousands of copies produced for the officials deciding on the budget and everyone else who gets a copy, an electronic budget has monumental impact on both the environment and the government’s bottom line.

But in his speech, Tapella outlined further goals, including retiring the GPO’s 1.5-million-square-foot building in Washington, DC and relocating to an LEED-certified building. The GPO continues to look for ways to both save money and improve its environmental impact.

Image courtesy of the GPO