When you think about the environment and what things harm it, you probably think of things like emissions from vehicles and the use of plastics. But one are where there is a lot of effect on the environment is the use of paper. Not only does this create waste, but making paper requires cutting down trees, which can further contribute to global warming. You might think that paper use is way down thanks to the demise of newspapers and the rise of email and messaging. However, this isn’t the case, especially when it comes to businesses. There are more than four trillion paper documents created each year, many of them by and for businesses, and that is increasing at a rate of more than 20% a year. And a typical business is increasing its paper use overall by about 25% a year. Here are some of the ways businesses use paper and some solutions for getting them to reduce it.
Any kind of retail business that takes credit cards has the potential to use a lot of paper and an easy way to reduce that use. Credit card thermal rolls, also called credit card paper rolls, are the things that produce receipts when you use your credit card. These may not seem like they would use a lot of paper, but they do. One way to reduce the use of credit card thermal rolls and reduce paper use is go to an electronic signature system for credit card use and only give out a paper receipt if the customer asks for one. The same goes for overall sales receipts printed on thermal paper. Instead of automatically printing a receipt for every purchase, give the customer the option of signing up for an emailed receipt to cut down on paper use.
There are a number of other ways any business, not just retail ones, use paper. This can include receiving faxes, sending letters and paper bills, printing out emails and other documents, and a number of other examples. Reducing paper use at your business takes some initiative. Limit printouts by making people put in a code to print, so you can see who is printing and what is being printed. Encourage customers to receive electronic bills and other communications instead of paper ones.
Whether its reducing the use of credit card thermal rolls or printing out fewer items in the office, there are a number of things businesses can do to cut down on their paper use. All it takes is a little planning and creativity to cut down on your paper use, which will be good both for the environment and your bottom line.
