How to Reduce Your Paper Consumption
An average person in the UK uses about 200 kilograms of paper per year. In five years, each of us uses about 1 tonne of paper which means that each of us is responsible for 17 felled trees. But you can save those trees by separating old newspapers, magazines and other types of paper products from other waste and disposing them at your local recycling bank. A single sheet of paper can be recycled and reused up to 7 times before the fibres become to week for further use. But besides recycling, you can also save plenty of trees by reducing paper consumption to the minimum.
Here are a few suggestions on how to reduce your paper consumption:
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Replace paper towels with cloth towels. These absorb more moisture and can be used over and over again for years. At the same time, used paper towels cannot be recycled which means that they go directly to landfills after a single use.
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Cancel junk mail. You do not really need all those brochures to stay informed about special offers and discounts. In addition, they only make you buy stuff you do not really need. Instead, visit official websites of your favourite stores where you can find all the necessarily information about the latest offers and special deals.
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Print out documents only when necessary. If you hate sitting at the desk to read from the monitor, consider buying a laptop computer or a tablet which enables you to read your documents anywhere you like.
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Use one-sided paper copies as scrap paper. You can also cut them to same sized sheets and bind them into a notebook.
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Sign up to your favourite newspapers and magazines online. If you do not want to give up the pleasure of reading your newspapers or magazines while drinking your morning coffee, at least consider reducing the number of subscriptions.
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Use the technology to communicate. Rather than sending greeting cards, pick up your phone and call your loved ones to say happy birthday and wish a Merry Christmas. If you are worried about your phone bills, however, you can also send e-cards.
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Pay your bills online. It is cheaper, faster and much more convenient.
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Buy bulk foods and choose products with minimal packaging. That way you will reduce packaging-related paper waste as well as save money because bulk products are typically cheaper.
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Use washable plates rather than the paper ones when organising a barbecue or backyard picnic. In addition, it is a greater pleasure to eat from a regular plate than from the paper one.