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Should your company go paperless?
Results so far:
| No | 47% | 29 votes | Total: 62 votes | |
| Yes | 53% | 33 votes |
No
by Peter Smith
Created on: March 16, 2009
Think of the trees! Somebody think of the trees!
Actually, the trees are just fine, thank you very much. Reducing your use of paper doesn't help the environment nearly as much as you might think.
There is reason for us to be concerned about our old-growth forests. These forests are an irreplaceable treasure, having never been logged or mined and therefore are in a 'pristine' state. Not only do large stands of majestic trees live there, but a wide variety of wildlife lives there also, and much of that wildlife depends on the unique environment of the old-growth forest to survive. By all means you should be concerned about the future of these precious forests.
But conserving paper won't help protect them. You see, when a logging firm casts its eyes on an old growth forest like Temagami in Northern Ontario, they are not looking for sources of pulp for paper; rather they are keen to harvest the stands of very old white and red pine trees. These trees take a long time to go but are valuable for making furniture and veneer products, and only the unusable portions of these logs are ever turned into pulp for paper. Frankly the white and red pine logs are too valuable to be used for paper, and because they grow slowly forestry companies don't like to plant them.
So where does the pulp for paper come from? Well, most it is from tree farms. These farms grow row upon row of trees, usually species like jack pine. Jack pine grows very quickly and therefore is good for producing a large quantity of wood quickly, but jack pine is not very good for construction or carpentry. If you've driven around in Northern Ontario you will likely have passed some of these tree farms. You can tell an area is a tree farm and not a forest if all the trees are in neat rows.
Really, then, the raising of these trees is just another type of farming. When the trees are cut down, more are planted. These trees are grown specifically for this purpose and their harvesting is perfectly sustainable. You might as well boycott bread because it comes from wheat. But we all know that wheat doesn't need any protection, and neither do the kinds of trees that are used to make paper. The pulp industry provides many jobs for people in the North, a region that traditionally has a harder time maintaining sustainable employment, and uses land that can't really be used for ordinary farming. There is nothing environmentally wrong with such sustainable land use.
Paper has a number of advantages over electronic media, too. You don't need to protect paper from viruses or hackers, and if you keep your documents in a safe place someone who wants to steal them needs to actually physically break into your premises. Also, believe it or not, if paper is stored properly it lasts longer than data on a CD or hard drive.
There are plenty of things that you can do with your paper to be environmentally conscious:
1. Recycle your waste paper. Paper that is thrown out can go into the garbage, where it ends up taking up space in a landfill, or it can be recycled, where it is used again. Even paper that has already been recycled can be recycled. This means that paper that is thrown out is not really wasted; it becomes useful again.
2. Buy recycled paper. This helps maintain the recycling apparatus. Though your stock of paper doesn't need to be entirely recycled, using recycled paper supports the recycling industry, without which paper just goes into landfills again.
3. Use 'natural' coloured paper. The natural colour of wood (and therefore wood pulp) is a light brown. Paper mills use various kinds of bleach to make paper white. The byproducts of this process end up in our lakes and rivers. 'Natural' colored paper is a light brown colour (like paper bags) because it is unbleached. Using natural coloured paper helps keep these poisons out of our water system.
If you follow these guidelines, your environmentalist conscience need not be troubled about using paper!
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PS: if you are interested in the forestry environmental issue, I recommend that you have a look at Earthroots, an environmental charity dedicated to protecting old-growth forests in Ontario, I worked there for a while and can say that these are deeply committed people.
Learn more about this author, Peter Smith.
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Yes
by Jack Deal
Created on: April 01, 2008 Last Updated: August 29, 2010
What no paper? You have got to be kidding...
No, not really. Paperless started in a place called Silicon Valley where a few tech companies decided that paper was a relic just like the tape cassette and Corvair. Paper? We don't need any stinkin' paper...
And then there are those of us that have fought with paper all our lives. We lose it, misfile it, spill coffee on it, loan it, rip it, tear it and wrinkle it. We actually do a lot more things with it and that is the problem.
A computer, if you know how to use one, is a much more efficient way to track and store data than a filing cabinet. What the techies really like about computer storage is they can determine how to organize the data and information and even how to search and retrieve it.
Not so with filing cabinets and reams of paper. Paper has to go in a certain file or it cannot be found...no cross indexing in a filing cabinet. Or if you are like me, you end up with piles of papers that need to be filed meaning that many of my paper files are incomplete at best.
And how about those really thick paper files? Ever spent ten minutes going through a thick paper file to find out it was misplaced or in the very back of the file?
And how about those poor dyslexic souls that space out on their A, B, and C's and always misfile? There is no Google search function for a filing cabinet that can compensate for human error.
And of course it is always true that the really urgent and critical piece of paper is the only one that cannot be found...the Murphy's Law of Paper.
In Silicon Valley the office rent is so high it makes storing tons of paper a very expensive proposition. The paper itself is expensive and then there are filing costs, storing costs, retrieval costs, etc. By eliminating paper one can reduce different types of fixed expenses that take up both time and money.
So if going paperless is more efficient and effective, what is to stop any company from going paperless?
Some paper is required by law and unless your company is in a Mafia-related business it is in your best interest to abide by the law. Paper such as authorizations, invoices, receipts, bids, contracts, etc. are often required by law and should be included in your company's best practices. Sorry.
But anywhere your company is not legally required to have paper might be a good area to eliminate paper. For example, your company can almost eliminate payroll related paper by doing direct deposits and allowing employees private access to their online 'paycheck stubs.'
Paperless payroll is actually an employee benefit as employees don't have to wait for their checks or drive to a bank or ATM to deposit it. Saves paper, gas and time...
Many customers and clients also prefer paperless. Ecology and 'going green' has become an obsession in many areas of the world. These Greenfolk live what they feel and they get upset if they see you throwing a can or piece of cardboard in the regular trash and not the appropriate recycling bin.
They also know paper kills trees and the paper industry is one of the dirtiest industries on the planet.
These 'Greens' ask their grocery store to have a 'recycle receipt' box at the checkout counter; they bring their own bags so it's never "paper or plastic."
They stop all unsolicited mail and plan their trips to save gas. These kinds of customers will absolutely love your company for going paperless. And tell all their Greenfolk friends.
Obviously it's good business to give the customer what they want. Some, like me on a small purchase, don't want a receipt at all. Others want an email or digital receipt so they can store and file it on their computer.
Still others want both a paper and digital receipt; if you are in business you know the type...ha! But despite being picky these Greenfolk can be very good customers so why not give them what they want or at least in the manner they want it? Good business, no?
As computer memory costs continue to approach zero, massive data storage is now relatively inexpensive or almost free. And with improved security, in many instances digital files are also more secure than paper files; one big advantage is that digital files never need shredding.
Even if your company cannot go paperless there is a strong likelihood that a good percentage of your company's paperwork could be reduced. It's cheaper, more efficient, greener and in many instances more secure. Most importantly customers love it.
Go ahead; throw your printer into the trash or rather the recycling bin. What's not to like about that?
Learn more about this author, Jack Deal.
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