Most of us have heard the often quoted phrase about how a journey of a thousand miles always starts with a single step. With regards to the journey towards improving the health of our planet, there are vast opportunities to help through small choices that can have real impact, especially within our work environment.

But where and how do you start?

The Challenge

The average officer worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each. Across all U.S. businesses, the annual total is 21 million tons of copy paper, or more than 4 trillion sheets. About 400 billion photocopies are made each year, which means 750,000 copies are produced every minute.

American businesses use over twenty-one million tons of paper annually. If half of this were recycled paper, a forest larger than the state of Florida could be saved every year.¹

Taking Those First Steps

At i/oTrak, we learned first hand just how quickly a few mini-steps can add up. Last month, our corporate team identified some simple things to reduce paper waste that they felt might help get us started on our journey towards making even a small difference.

Here is what we came up with:

• In the Receiving Department-We get stuff delivered to our organization daily and it all comes neatly packed in cardboard boxes. A month after our initiative of these boxes began, we had sent out nearly 1500 pounds of cardboard to be recycled.
• In the breakroom-It didn't take long to see how it would be possible to use fewer paper napkins/towels in the breakroom, by switching back to a few good old fashion cloth towels for keeping the dishes and counters dry.
• In the fax room - Go digital! While we had migrated most of our faxing to a digital format, the one paper-based fax machine we kept around as our "just-in-case" security blanket was finally retired. All faxes are now routed digitally throughout the organization.
• At our individual desks-In the offices of all managers and other key personnel, Personal Document Containers (PDC) were provided. Each has a holding capacity up to 30 lbs and is is perfect for desk-side collection. It is designed to fit beside or under a desk or counter to secure sensitive documents, at arms reach, right at the workstation making recycling not only easy but more cost efficient.
• In the Copy Room-One of the easiest ways to reduce paper consumption was with a simple click of the mouse. Whenever possible we began to encourage everyone to default the print/copy unit to the double-side feature. Purchases of copy/print paper (white, #20) has already begun to show signs of slowing.

To be honest, it didn't take long to come up with this list and there were no real sacrifices involved. Yet it was amazing how quickly these few mini-steps have quickly started to add up in helping to contribute to a bit more healthier and greener working environment.

Perhaps you might also want to consider striking out on your own journey (or adding additional steps to the ones you have already undertaken) within your own skyscraper of waste!

Did You Realize?

Whether printing or copying, use both sides of a piece of paper. If just one in four office workers made all of their copies double-sided, the annual savings would equal 130 billion sheets of paper - a stack thicker than the diameter of the earth! - The Green Book

Notes

1 Rogers, E., & Kostigen, T. (2007). The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet one Simple Step at a Time. New York: Three Rivers Press.