Paper

The Story of Paper at TD

Our customers and employees view excess paper as a major irritant – and with good reason. Banks and insurance companies are among the highest users of paper, with 10,000 sheets of office paper per employee per year being the industry average.¹ While some paper copies are legally required, there are many opportunities to reduce or eliminate paper usage from our products, services and business processes.

Since 2008 TD has been tackling the issue of paper reduction at all stages of the paper life cycle from sourcing, through usage and disposal. We source environmentally certified paper (FSC, SFI, CSA) for letterhead, business envelopes, business cards and copy/fax paper. Our standard office paper contains a minimum of 30% post-consumer content. TD has steadily reduced our office paper use by 12% per employee, over three years.

TD customers are also committed to reducing paper, with over 50% opting for paperless statements for a variety of products, including chequing and savings accounts.

In 2010 we joined the Boise® Closed Loop System™, a recycling program to divert paper waste from landfills and reuse it in the production of recycled office paper. This initiative diverts 1,500 metric tonnes of office paper from landfills every year.

We’ve heard loud and clear from customers and employees that TD still needs to “use less paper.” It’s time to raise the bar. In 2011, we decided to take our commitment even further by announcing the following goal:

We plan to achieve this goal by:

• tracking all forms of paper that TD uses – including office paper, business forms and reports, commercial print and customer statements and envelopes;
• committing to reducing our overall paper usage by 20% by 2015 relative to a 2010 baseline; and
• committing to being “paper-neutral” by the end of 2012, offsetting the paper that we use by planting or protecting forested areas across North America.

¹ Source: http://business.edf.org/casestudies/citigroup-improving-paper-management

TD Forests

As part of TD’s paper-neutral commitment, we’re launching a major North American conservation initiative in 2012. Through this program we will commit to growing the area of protected forest habitat in North America. Through this commitment we will protect an area equivalent to a football field each and every day for the duration of the program.

Why protect forests rather than just plant trees? It’s clear that cutting down a tree has a greater impact than the loss of a single tree. Not only do forest ecosystems provide habitat for plants and animals, they contribute to air and water quality, as well as providing adventure and recreation for people.

In Canada TD will partner with the Nature Conservancy of Canada to protect threatened forest habitat across the country. We will identify our conservation partner in the United States in 2012.

In addition, in 2012 TD will plant approximately 50,000 trees through our employee tree planting initiatives, TD Tree Days, held at more than 120 locations across North America and in the U.K.