Tips and Facts

Paper Reduction Facts

The average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. Let's try to reduce that number!
The United States alone, which has less than 5% of the world's population, consumes 30% of the world's paper.
Over 40% of wood pulp goes toward the production of paper.
Printing and writing paper equals about one-half of U.S. paper production.
The cost of using paper in the office can run 13 to 31 times the purchasing price of the paper used.
It takes more than 1½ cups of water to make one sheet of paper. (Picture a typical soda can.)
One ton of uncoated, virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees

Preview your documents before printing. Use the print preview to spot formatting errors and blank pages before you print. Proofread first, and use the spell/grammar tool to help avoid errors that can cause documents to need to be reprinted.
Print only the pages you need. If only a few pages of the document are needed, print only those pages instead of the whole report. Most software programs provide this option under the print function.
Promote a "think before you copy" attitude. Consider sharing some documents with co-workers. Print only the number of copies needed for the meeting, don't make extras.
Check out the impacts of your paper use using this Paper Calendar.
Watch this TED Talk about Cradle-to-Cradle
Q: "What do I do with my scrap paper?" A: You can use it in meetings to take notes, rather than using a fresh sheet of paper. You can print on the back of it, or if you have no other need for it, you can recycle it in the green paper bin!
Confused about what to throw into which bin? Learn the recycling rules.
Read this Q&A on the environmental benefits of recycling paper.
Looking for creative, impactful ways to reduce paper demand? Look no further than your paycheck. Sign up for direct deposit and opt out of receiving paper copies.