We are back with part 7 of our 8 part series on small things we can do in our regular lives to make a big difference in the environment.
We all use paper. Unfortunately we are a long way from allowing our trees to grow undisturbed. The problem with paper though is we use it for things that don’t need to be printed. A lot of times we print single sided pages, we print out emails that are stored digitally – just-in-case, or we throw paper away instead of recycling it.
Solutions to the paper problem:
There are a few easy solutions to help you reduce the amount of paper you consume.
- Print on both sides of the paper! This sounds so simple yet it always amazes me how many people still throw out/recycle paper after it has gone through the printer once. Often times your photocopier/printer will have a default setting to print on both sides which can be a useful setting.
- Put a paper recycling box beside each garbage can. That way people think twice before throwing paper out.
- Do your best to go paperless! There are a lot of solutions to help you reduce your paper consumption. If you need a copy of something (receipt, email, etc) use Adobe Acrobat (you’ll need at least the standard edition) and print them to a PDF and file them on your computer. There are also fully fledged filing programs that you can purchase such as documentlocator (http://www.documentlocator.com/) or paperport (http://www.nuance.com/for-business/by-product/paperport/index.htm) that work like filing cabinets but are on your computer so you don’t lose anything. ***One important thing to note… if you are going to start storing essential documents on your computer you will need to backup regularly. Want a recommended person? Just ask!
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