Photo credit:
karaku*, flickr
Using 100% recyclable paper is an excellent beginning in the effort to conserve natural resources; especially since every ton of paper recycled saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. It's also a wonderful idea not to use Starbucks to-go cups, which are only 10% post-consumer recycled, and are effectively non-recyclable.
Yet even if you use only all-recycled paper, the average American still uses 27 pounds of printer paper each year, and that's not counting the amounts some of us work-from home-ers can consume in a day.
The big three for greenies remain: Reduce, Recycle, and Reuse. If you can accomplish the latter two with your paper products, than good for you. But if you want to take it up a notch, the real challenge is going paperless.
Here are 5 quick and easy ways to go paperless:
1. Think before you print - Xerox uses a lovely little icon to remind consumers to pause before printing every little thing. Many websites do the same (Super Eco does not have a printer icon next to news for this reason). Do you really need to print out that funny joke or recipe or email from your ex- (okay, maybe that one) or map?
2. Use both sides - When you print on your 100% recycled printer paper, print on both sides. This is a simple way to use less and another opportunity to pause before you print. Same applies to notes, lists, and the like. Use old scrap paper for this purpose rather than buying new pads of paper for each task.
3. Print green - Use GreenPrint, or a similar program which sorts out the least ink-heavy printing options so you don't have to. GreenPrint has a 30-day free trial, if you're unsure. There are also products like eco-font, which help you utilize less ink when you do decide to print.
4. Share your love virtually - It's rare to receive a paper invitation anymore, and so much the better. Those embossed, glossy special occasion notes and announcements are rarely recyclable and often end up in the bin within 30 seconds. New baby? Send an email! Friend got a new job? Send a congratulatory email. Even better, share your love via Twitter, Facebook, or flickr.
5. Scan it - Transforming paper documents into digital files is a quick, easy, and efficient way to store financial records, receipts, and legal documents without the hassle of filing cabinets and banking boxes piling up in your closet. The scanner industry is a huge boon to those interested in greening up their wasteful techie ways. Scanning is also a great alternative to printing out photos and old letters. Why not store them in your (backed-up) hard drive instead? Incidentally, we're giving away 2 scanners to those who enter our contest.
Any other ideas for going paperless?
How to foster green biodiversity
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Great tips, Rachael.
* Instead of gift-wrapping paper, I use the comic pages from the newspaper.
* I also write my grocery shopping lists from the bottom of the paper up, so I cut off just what I've written on, and the rest of the paper is still usable.
Great post with great tips. If I might be permitted to add http://www.Zumbox.com, which is a new paperless postal system based on your street address. So it's digital mail delivered to a virtual (online) mailbox that is tied to your street address. Now companies that already send you paper mail can immediately switch to this paperless option...for free.
Concise and practical tips. I wanted to offer an additional service for item 5. Our service, Pixily ( http://www.pixily.com ), allows people to go paperless. You can mail-in paper documents (invoices, receipts, statements, kids' artwork etc,.) in pre-paid envelopes or boxes. We then scan those into your secure web account, which can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
i love paper - the pretty stuff in that photo that is. and i love notebooks (but sometimes don't like to write in them because they are so pretty).
however, i am all for reducing paper and do so as much as i can. the reports that i must copy at work i do double-sided. i am trying very hard to only print what i absolutely need. this is challenging for a researcher, but i am learning.
i want to make one comment, though, on some of the suggestions to scan receipts or indeed mail your receipts to someone else to scan. that actually does nothing to reduce use of paper. it only moves it out of your sight. the better way to go is to use electronic billing wherever possible, to keep files electronically without printing them in the first place.
i made paper once. maybe i will work on it again, using some of those old receipts and bills that still come in. and i can always use some of the dried flowers and herbs from the garden to make it extra special.
For reuse, I take all the board book materials for a non-profit board that I serve on and provide them to grandchildren to draw on the back. I have tried, without success, to get the non-profit to provide the board book on-line.
These are great tips, Rachael. I use Print Friendly myself, which I've found to be a great tool for printing web pages on the go.
If I may throw another in there, what about not using paper coffee cups? That's what we're all about over at Save the Cups. Check us out: http://savethecups.com/