Fight the paper addiction
Fight the paper addiction
December 11, 2007: A campaign launched today by Planet Ark founder Jon Dee, is urging business end-users to reap the financial and environmental benefits of slashing their paper usage through an initiative called, ‘Project Paper-less.’
Supported by Redmap, Toshiba and Iomega, the campaign is well aware their best intentions will never see a completely paperless office, but can make a difference by urging business users to rethink their paper based practices. Further, the campaign urges Australian corporations to get involved and take up a number of process based initiatives to change their paper hungry habits.
John Dee, managing director of Issues Solutions, says electronic document management is a very real solution to the problem. “Many companies are finding that they become far more efficient and cost-effective when they store information electronically instead of printing it on paper,” he says.
“Australians realise that we have to reduce paper use, but consumers need to be educated about the electronic alternatives available to them such as electronic storage, multi-functional devices and document management systems.”
Project Paperless claims Australians are using 1.4 million tonnes of printing paper every year. Part of the problem, the founders believe, is that fact most people have no idea just how much they’ve come to rely on paper, and how much they consume on an average day.
While recycling initiatives may have us believing our excess waste is merely reused, the founders of Project Paperless believe only 11 percent of office paper is actually being recycled. Meanwhile, the average paper based document is reduced 19 times.