Did you know that an average office employee ends up using at least 10,000 sheets of paper every year? Yes, that’s right.
Paper waste is definitely one of the major issues faced by industries and offices. In fact, it is also estimated that paper products such as notebooks, copy paper, bills, junk mail, and hangouts hugely contribute to landfill waste.
Thus, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that entrepreneurs need to adopt a sustainable approach for their business. It is important now more than ever.
So, if you are also looking forward to finding ways to reduce paper waste in your office, here are some tips that might come in handy. Use these tips and do your part for the environment.
Leverage technology to your advantage
The best way to reduce paper waste is by creating a paperless office. Yes, that’s right, with the help of technology, you can limit the usage of paper.
Although email is an obvious choice for many organizations to circulate paperless messages, many still use paper to send memos and share documents.
Here’s how you can leverage technology and minimize paper usage.
- Shift to internal chat software or e-bulletins to communicate with each other.
- As far as the documentation part is concerned, you can always opt for edi services and share data seamlessly with each other.
- You can also consider switching to online magazines and newspapers to minimize wastage.
- Use drives to save the company policy and information instead of handouts.
- Use online spreadsheets and applications to take and compile notes.
- Switch to digital invoices.
Use recycled papers
Even if you are not able to go paperless completely, it would be best to order recycled paper.
According to industry experts, it takes 60% less energy to produce recycled paper than the one made from scratch. Not to mention, no trees are harmed to produce recycled paper. Plus, buying recycled paper or no-chlorine paper means less paper waste in the landfills.
You can also consider recycling your old documents, packaging materials, and used pages to avoid any further wastage. If you need help with paper recycling, then you may consider consulting commercial paper recycling services.
Think before you print
Many employees end up printing documents they don’t even need. Or worse, they have printed something multiple times because of a typo error.
So, you need to show your employees how important it is to save paper. Ask them to print documents only in urgent situations. And even if they have to print something, make sure they edit the document thoroughly before giving the print command.
Replace or repair faulty equipment
One of the major reasons for a high amount of paper waste is faulty copy or printing machines. The paper is of no use if it gets stuck into these machines. So, you need to make sure that you schedule a regular maintenance appointment for your machine.
And ask your employees to report any ongoing problems with copy and printing machines. This will help in avoiding the accidental use of the equipment and reduce paper waste.
Final words,
Paper wastage is one of the growing environmental problems in the world. So, use these tips mentioned above to do your bit to save the resources.