I have been pondering the following idea for quite a while:

Part of recycling is buying recycled products, as it provides a market
for the products we recycle.  I find, at least in my area, that
schools, businesses, municipal organizations, and consumers do not
bother to purchase recycled copy paper (of which a tremendous amount
is used), more than likely for the following two reasons: (1)
Availability - there are only two major office supply stores in the
area (Staples and OfficeMax) and neither stock recycled copy paper
with high levels of post consumer content (PCC).  (2) Cost - recycled
paper, while it costs less to produce, usually sells at much higher
prices than regular copy paper, due to a lack of demand.  I was
looking for a way to resolve these two problems and persuade local
organizations to buy paper high in PCC.  My idea was to form some time
of cooperative where the participating organizations would register
the amount of paper they needed for the year in advance (in terms of
cases of paper) and then I would pool together all the requests and
buy the paper in bulk to reduce cost.  When it arrived, I would
distribute it myself to the participants in the program.  However, my
problem is cost: It will be impossible to persuade an organization to
pay $5-10 more per case than normal, just for the sake of being
recycled.  Here is what I have gathered:

-A case of 20lb. Copy Paper at Staples costs about $25.
-The organizations I would be targeting would obviously buy their
paper in bulk, so lets estimate that they pay $20 a case (including
transportation charges to ship the paper).
-The cheapest recycled paper available [online] is at treecycle.com. 
They offer a case of Envirographic 100 at $43.95, minus a 10% discount
if over 10 cases are purchased.  They also offer bulk pricing for over
40 cases of such paper, however their rates are not posted.
-Let's assume for the purpose of this question that I will be buying
over 40 cases of paper, and let's assume that I can negotiate the
price down to $35 a case, including transportation charges to ship
them.
-Envirographic 100 is made by Badger Paper, and more information on it
is available here: http://badgerpaper.com/specialty_papers/premium_bus/enviro100.html
-The paper would need to be delivered to the town of Easton,
Connecticut (I am not sure if this has any effect on the price).

Here is my question: given the above information, how can I obtain
recycled paper in bulk quantities (let's say 55 cases).  I would be
reordering this quantity every year, and I need the price to be
somewhat competitive (in the range of $20-30 a case, including
transportation charges) with what is available now (if the price is
below $25 a case, don’t even bother researching the transportation
charges).  In addition, I will not be making any money or acting as a
distributor from this, I simply will allow the participating
organizations to have access to the paper at whatever the cost was to
me.  Is this at all possible and if so, who would I purchase the paper
from, and what are the policies on the purchase of this paper?  How
much would the paper cost?  Any help is greatly appreciated.

You have a wonderful idea. I think you should start by contacting some
existing Co Ops in your area. They might not have thought of adding
bulk paper thair inventories. If they don't want to, at least they
could give you some pointers on how to start your own. You should also
consider that the business might be willing to pay a little extra for
the recycled paper. Mention that a sign in the window along the lines
of "We use recycled paper because we care about the environment" might
attract more business. Especially in a town full of tree huggers like
me :)


List of co op locations
http://www.umich.edu/~nasco/main_link.html

Catalog of co op related items
http://www.ncba.org/catalog/

Google Directory (lots of links on co ops)
http://directory.google.com/Top/Business/Industries/Food_and_Related_Products/Cooperatives/

Good luck with your project, the world need more people like you!

I believe you are correct in the idea of businesses that would be
willing to pay higher for recycled paper, so that is not much of issue
if I can obtain the paper at $30/case.  The problem comes with the
school system.  They are operating on a very tight budget that is
frequently cut by referendums, and I think it is nearly impossible to
get them to pay more than, say $5 more a case.  It just so happens
that about 1/4 of the town are environmentally concerned, and the
other 3/4 are wealthy, conservative republicans.  However, outside of
the school issue, I don't believe I should run into any obstacles in
convincing at least a small amount of businesses and organizations (it
shocked me to learn recently that our local Audubon doesn't even use
environmentally-sound paper).  Thank you for your assistance and
encouragement, it is greatly appreciated.

I hadn't thought of the school issue, but prehaps a good old fasioned
bake sale could raise the extra $ to pay for the recycled paper.

Great idea, I wonder why I hadn't thought of it!  I think that just
might be the key I was looking for.  Thank you so much for your
assistance!