Ten Ways to Green Your Paper Use

According to the Center for American Progress, paper, although terribly easy to recycle, accounts for 25 % of landfill waste and that if everyone in the USA alone cut office paper use by just 10 percent, “It would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases—the equivalent of taking 280,000 cars off the road.”

You can green your own paper use oh so easily by doing the following…

1. First of all you should green audit your trash at home or at work to make sure you’re recycling enough. A green paper / trash audit should let you know if you’re tossing more paper products than you should be.
2. Go as paperless as possible in your office both at work and at home. Think it’s impossible to go paperless in the office? It’s not – read the Paperless Office Experiment, at Productivity501.
3. When you do buy paper only purchase recycled content paper.
4. Use both sides of all the paper you need.
5. Ditch total paper wastes like scratch pads and sticky notes – just use old scratch paper (old envelopes from bills, junk mail, etc).
6. Cancel your junk mail. This is paper saving 101 – if you haven’t canceled your junk mail and or catalogs yet hop onto that train asap.
7. Place a box near your desk marked for recycling. If you have a box within reach, you’ll be more likely to recycle.
8. Buy items at stores that are wrapped in less paper and cardboard. For example, bulk noodles are a better way to go than boxed noodles.
9. Purchase recycled toilet paper, tissues, and if you must, paper towels. However, I’m going to strongly advocate that you give up paper towels completely. I’ve lived paper-towel free for years, and it’s a-ok.
10. Buy books printed on recycled paper – we have the technology to print ALL books on recycled paper, publishers just don’t do it. Tell your fave publisher to make the switch. OR simply check books out at the library.