I have a lot of people come to me and ask “How can I go more sustainable in my work / life?” And my go to suggestion is always “#1: Reduce your paper use” 📝🚫🌲
The simple, most cost effective and easy transitional change you can make is saying no to printing hard copies, and utilizing digital tools to share, view and present documents. There’s hundreds of digital programs out there that you can use for your job. And now in the Covid-era, more people than ever are working remotely: attending online classes, meetings, submitting documents and presentations virtually and eliminating the need of paper copies. So why not join the club of efficiency and also go paper-free?
Here are some facts about Paper Production:
- The United States uses approximately 68 million trees each year to produce paper and paper-products.
- Pulp and paper is the 3rd largest industrial polluter of air, water and soil.
- Chlorine-based bleaches are used during production which results in toxic materials being released into our water, air and soil.
- When paper rots, it emits methane gas which is 25 times more toxic than CO2.
How can you save paper and reduce your global impact?
- Recycle all your paper waste.
- Be a conscious consumer and buy 100% post-consumer waste recycled paper.
- Buy recycled paper materials or materials that came from sustainable managed forests.
- Reuse paper. If you've only used one side for example, collect them instead of throwing them away. You can bind these sheets and make a notebook using the other side. This small effort reduces paper waste by 50%!
- Take advantage of the latest technologies like tablets, computers and smart phones, to keep your files and notes.
Some awesome (free) tools and apps to check out to help you go paperless!
Project management & communication
- Slack
File sharing and storage:
- Dropbox
Meetings / Calls:
- Zoom
Filmmakers:
- Scriptation (Check out our episode with the founder!)
Great article to check out for more tips and resources to help you go digital:
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To a sustainable future!
THE SUSTAINABLE ACT
WITH SMIELY KHURANA
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