The beginning of a new year comes with much promise and hope. We often set forth with new resolutions to make a positive change in our lives. What if you could make one change that would help the entire planet for years to come? Would you do it? What if we told you it was simple? Intriguing, right? One small thing you can do that will make a huge impact is to reduce paper waste at work!

A whopping 70% of office waste consists of paper. Paper is used for employment applications, files for clients and employees, mail and more. What makes it wasteful is that 30% of papers are not picked up and 45% of those get thrown away instead of recycled!

We’ve all heard “Think before you print.” This campaign is not against printing. But it does encourage people to remember that wasting paper, ink and toner is not economical or good for the environment. Next time you are ready to print something, think about it first. Can you save it as a digital file instead of storing a hard copy in your desk drawer? Or can you email an attachment to a colleague instead of printing out a report? Simple change. BIG difference.

Another staggering fact is that one document is photocopied an average of 19 times in its lifespan. That’s a lot of copies being created for one document, especially since there may be a better way now. Scanning paperwork and emailing it to recipients will cut down on the number of copies needed, and digital copies can be easily saved. This eliminates a lot of paper waste.

Digital document management can potentially save 1.4 trillion pounds of paper! To hit that goal, businesses can encourage sending documents via email, scanning and saving files in a digital filing system, and using systems like Dropbox and Flickr for image libraries, videos and documents.

Save time, money and our planet by reducing paper waste at work this year!