The Economics of Paper Consumption in Offices

Abstract

This paper explores the factors potentially responsible for the overconsumption of office paper and estimates the adverse environmental and economic impact of overconsumption. Data were collected from the employees of selected higher educational institutions in Oman. Technical factors, workplace environment, printing preferences and lack of awareness were found the main cause of overconsumption. Environmental and economic impact of the paper was estimated from the actual amount of paper consumed using standard formulas from literature. The institutions have used 5,200 reams (13 tons) of 80gm A4 size paper in one year. The economic cost of the paper was 7,800 OMR (20,280 US$). The environmental impact estimated are: cutting of 312 trees, 73,970 Ibs of CO2 gas emission, 144,742 KWh of energy consumption, solid waste produced 29,614 lbs and 247975 gallons of water were wasted. Changing printing preferences, a significant amount of economic and environmental resources to the tune of 44.8% can be saved.

Reducing environmental impacts of marine biotoxin monitoring: A laboratory report

“…Additionally, the Marine Institute ISO 17025 quality system (that covers multiple laboratories) has transitioned to full electronic document control using a document control management system (Paradigm 3 compliance management software). Such strategies lead to a significant reduction in paper consumption, use of printing ink, printer maintenance, electricity, and the requirement for storage space [16]. Other ways to reduce paper consumption include: use of recycled paper; using the blank sides of unneeded singlesided copies (scrap paper) for printing drafts or writing notes; printing on both sides; and using FollowMe printers [16].…”

“…Such strategies lead to a significant reduction in paper consumption, use of printing ink, printer maintenance, electricity, and the requirement for storage space [16]. Other ways to reduce paper consumption include: use of recycled paper; using the blank sides of unneeded singlesided copies (scrap paper) for printing drafts or writing notes; printing on both sides; and using FollowMe printers [16].…”

“…The environmental impact of paper consumption includes deforestation, air, water, and land pollution. The paper industry is among the world's largest generators of air and water pollutants, waste products, and the gases that cause climate change [16]. Hazardous chemicals (organic solvents) are used in the production of printing inks emitting volatile organic compounds and air pollutants during manufacture and printing.…”

Bekasi Regency Workforce Readiness to Work in The Paperless Office

“…In general, a paperless office can be defined as reducing or even eliminating paper consumption for office needs, including the government system (Shah, Amjed, & Alkathiri, 2019). As is well known, the use of paperless office brings various benefits.…”

Decarbonizing warehousing activities through digitalization and automatization with WMS integration for sustainability supporting operations

“…According to statistics, reading 8 pages document from a laptop computer generates 2-times less CO₂ (13.8 g) compared to the same printed document on two-sided paper print (30.3 g) [43]. Another example comes from the study about office paper consumption where the selected higher education institutions used 13 tons of A4 size paper per year which were made by cutting 312 trees, 33,6 tons of CO₂ emissions, around 145MWh of energy consumption, approximately 13,4 tons of solid wastes and 940 m³ of water used [44]. Moreover, from the digitalization point of view, even WMS could be sort of the next level digitalized by offering it as a cloud service, which should be a bit more sustainable way of using the system, than one which is installed as a standalone solution in a site [45].…”