Super Eco

Photo credit: lotyloty, Flickr

Twenty-seven pounds. That’s how much printer paper the average American gobbles up in a year. That adds up to some 4 million tons of paper annually. Oh, yeah. I could stand to lose a few pounds … of paper waste, that is.

My kids chew through printer paper as if it were TP. Their insatiable appetite for scribbling (on one side only!) doesn’t give a flip about the trees, never mind their paper waste stream. It’s gotten so bad that I had to put my last laser jet ream under lock and key.

Until Team Doodle picks the lock—and they will—I’m planning an eco-guilt-loaded lecture on greening their expensive, wasteful paper addiction. Effective immediately, I expect my decadent doodlers and print-a-holics to:
1. Use both sides. It’s simple, easy and doubles our paper savings.
2. Sketch on scrap paper. Old receipts, old schoolwork, old Mapquest directions. Whatever, as long as it’s not my checkbook.   
3. “Draw” online instead of on paper. There are reams of fun, free draw-and-paint apps to choose from. Jackson Pollock would appreciate this mesmerizing one. No mess. No missing pens. No paper. No printing!

If my elementary school-ers can save on paper, I can too. But how?

1. Buy recycled and/or biodegradable printer paper. The (expensive) choices: post-consumer material/fiber, recovered material/fiber or recycled, processed chlorine-free paper (though most recycled PCF contains a disappointing 30% post-consumer content). Chlorine-free (TCF) paper is also an option, but it’s made from virgin paper likely derived from virgin forests.

2. Print less with GreenPrint. The software allows you to print only the stuff you want, not all the ink-heavy banner ads and unwanted pages. Plus, a nifty Impact Tracker tells you how many trees, greenhouse gases (and dollars!) you’re saving. Eek—The full download costs $29. I’ll take GreenPrint’s free “world” version, thank you.

Plotting your own paper-saving house rules? Keep in mind that paper goods bleached without chlorine are the greenest option. The least wasteful one? Skipping CTRL+P in the first place.