Did you know that nearly 70% of office waste consists of paper?
Unfortunately, the wastage of paper is a rampant problem throughout the world. Many times, we don’t even realize the impact it has on the environment and the planet.
So if you’re looking for some smart ways to reduce the use of paper in your workplace, these tips are here to help!
Tips To Reduce The Paper Waste In Your Office
1. Switch to emails
In today’s world, emails are the best way to communicate with clients, employees, and other businesses.
So, instead of sending them letters printed on paper, switch to emails today.
Not only are emails easy to store, but they also reduce the money spent buying expensive letter paper and stamps.
If you don’t get an appropriate response, you can always send the receiver a follow-up email to check back. Here again, this will significantly reduce the amount of paper you use.
2. Use paperless business cards
If you’re thinking of expanding your company’s reach, handing out business cards is effective.
But paper-based business cards have a lot of disadvantages. They are easily forgotten or discarded by the receiver, and millions of trees are cut each year to produce them.
However, if you switch to any paperless business card variants, you’ll be remembered in your client’s mind for doing something unique.
You can easily insert a QR code that can be scanned and redirected to your company website.
3. Save your files digitally
If you have archives of different files and folders in your office, you might want to consider backing them up digitally.
This will save a lot of space in your office and cut down your storage costs. Moreover, saving your files on a cloud system is also an eco-friendly option that will reduce the amount of paper used in your office.
Other than these files, things like employee handbook documents or forms can be separated into different folders on your computer and stored for future use.
4. Print on both sides of the paper
Don’t forget that your printer can print things on both sides of the paper.
So if there’s something that absolutely has to be printed on paper, make sure to use both the front and the back.
It may not always work, but taking small steps will lead you to conserve paper in the long run.
Take a moment to write down the guidelines for double-sided printing and ask your employees to follow these rules.
This will serve as an easy route to at least minimize paper wastage.
5. Reduce the usage of labels
Most offices still use separate paper for printing out the addresses while sending a letter to someone.
Instead of doing that, you can directly print the required address and name on the envelope itself. Believe it or not, even stamps can be printed directly onto the paper.
Try to find opportunities to reduce the number of labels you use.
For example, if you have to stick labels on different files, write down the label name directly on the file using a marker pen.
6. Think before printing
Take a moment and ask yourself whether you need to print all the documents you send out.
For example, if a circular needs to be reached out to your employees, don’t hand out individual notices to everyone.
Instead, consider printing only one notice and pin it on a place where everyone can see it.
Moreover, if you’re printing out a lengthy document, proofread it twice or thrice to ensure no errors will make you print it out again.
7. Shred the paper and recycle
Sometimes, the best way to reduce wastage is to recycle the paper already used. For example, ask your employees to separate papers from cardboard trash.
Shred the paper and gave it to a company that produces recycled paper. This way, you won’t have to keep purchasing new reams of paper every now and then.
Stone-based paper is also a great alternative nowadays. Additionally, reuse cardboard boxes around the office by storing miscellaneous items.
Over to you…
Conserving paper must be a top priority in most offices today. Whether you own a business or are an office worker, understand the negative impact of deforestation and global warming on our lives.
Take a step today and actively try to reduce paper wastage.
