You are busy making invoices and communicating with your customers to make sure their needs are being met. However, you are very aware that your business may not be as environmentally friendly as you hoped. You want it to be as green as possible, and you start looking around at ways you can improve.
The reality is that paper is necessary to a successful business. In fact, 85,000,000 tons of paper is used per year by the U.S. alone. No matter how much you invest in going green, you will always have a need for paper. Luckily, paper can be environmentally friendly, and you can use paper without worry.
Use Sustainable Paper
One of the best ways to have a positive impact on the environment is to use a sustainable paper. This reduces the amount of natural forest area that need to be harvested, and also helps create jobs for tree farmers, production workers, and anyone else who has a hand in making the paper. For example, Double A rents land from farmers to produce a patented tree used exclusively for Double A. The trees provide shade to the farmers and their crops while the fields provide essential nutrients to the trees. Plus, the trees grow on excess land that the farmers are not using for other crops, which makes the land able to support the tree farms at max efficiency.
See also: The Truth Behind Sustainable Paper
Reuse Paper Products
A lot of times, office print jobs only require one-sided printing. But what happens when those documents are no longer needed for whatever project you complete? Most of the time, the document goes straight to the trash bin.
Instead of throwing away your unneeded documents, try reusing the back blank sides for other projects. This is especially true for files that are not sensitive, and you know will be discarded later. By reusing your office paper, you will be doing your part to reduce paper waste and promote a healthy environment.
See also: Sustainable vs. Recycled: Which Paper is Best?
Reduce Paper Waste by Buying in Bulk
Sure, buying only a few reams at a time can save you an initial amount in the short-term, but in the long-term, it is costly for you and less efficient to buy your paper in small amounts.
In order to make sure that paper is being used as efficiently as possible, order in bulk. By doing that, you will be able to let the manufacturer know ahead of time how much paper you need, and that will allow it to more efficiently wrap your order. The more your bulk order, the less time is needed to prepare your paper, the less energy used to make your order, and the more you save on order costs. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Use Jam Free Paper
What’s the first thing you do when the paper gets stuck during printing? You remove the jam and toss it into the trash bin.
Running a business, you will eventually run across the problem of the dreaded paper jam. Paper jams in printers cause headaches, frustration, and paper to be thrown away and wasted.
To remove this frustration to far more manageable levels, consider purchasing jam-free paper. This type of paper is usually called 22-pound paper. It is a tad bit heavier than normal printing paper and therefore rarely jams at all. Less jamming means less paper waste and a cleaner environment.
See also: Prevent Paper Jams at Home