Why Paper Choices Matter

Lost in a sea of paper? According to reduce.org, the average office worker uses a shocking 10,000 pages of paper per year. Averaged out to 200 work days, that's 50 sheets of paper every single day. During office visits with clients within our sustainability consulting practice, it's hard to overlook the mounds of paper stacked in cubicles, desks, filing cabinets, and storage closets. I quickly point out the eco action of saving paper saves money, reduces the environmental impact, and increases efficiency.

Business owners are keen to the idea of saving money and generally inquire how to get started. Our professional consulting generally prefers the paperless path but also shares information on paper reduction in the eco friendly training sessions. By taking a few small steps, such as these, it's easy to get started and expand eco awareness in the office.

Understand your paper use
Look for opportunities to reduce paper use
Look for opportunities to recycle your paper
Buy recycled paper with post consumer recycled content
Train and educate to create supportive behavior
Move towards paperless options

Small business resources are available to assist in making better paper choices. One option includes Environmental Defense Fund's Paper Calculator. We frequently use this tool in our business sustainability consulting because it helps to quantify the benefits of better paper choices by showing the environmental impacts of different papers across their full lifecycle.

Keep in mind, when it comes to paper, producing paper from virgin fiber is both energy and water intensive. It releases significant amounts of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. By choosing to use less paper and paper with recycled content you are making the choice to save wood, water and energy, and cut pollution and solid waste. The costs savings add up and the environmental impact goes down.