Since global warming is on a rise, protecting the environment should be a top priority around the world and every individual and organization should do their part to make sure that they are protecting the environment. One of the ways by which we can put less burden on the environment is by going paperless.Â
In this age of digital technology where people prefer to have a credit card instead of paper money, it is surprising and weird to see how much we still rely on paper transactions when everything is digital. We can reduce the burden on the environment by going paperless for several beneficial reasons. Let’s have a look at 5 Reasons Why You Should Go Paperless:
1. Reduced Air Pollution
Making fine paper involves heavy machinery that produces a lot of carbon dioxide that is then released into the atmosphere. It is estimated that for almost 1 tonne of paper, over 1.5 tonnes of CO2 are emitted that pollute the air instantly. Plus, when the paper is made then it will be required to move around the world to different locations which will require vehicles, which in turn contributes more to air pollution.
All of this pollution just because you can get a payment receipt on paper or send a physical document somewhere? Is it really worth all the pollution that it is making? Maybe it is time to reconsider your demands and switch over to digital documents to help reduce harmful pollutants in the atmosphere.
2. Reduced Waste Pollution
Aside from polluting the air, relying on paper and paper products can also contribute to the rising waste pollution that is already polluting the Earth. It is estimated that an average office uses 10,000 pieces of paper every year and it is not like that when these documents are shredded then they are decomposed. Think about this, where do the shredded documents go when you throw them in the bin? Do they disappear? It isn’t that much easier and even though paper can be recycled and reused, it still requires a lot of processing before it can be used again.
Whereas if you were to store these documents on a computer or cloud, you can access these documents any time you want with just a single click and also dispose of any file in just a few seconds. There are now a lot of different digital document formats available, with the most popular being PDF due to its ease of use, accessibility, and a lot of different PDF tools available such as Word to PDF, Excel to PDF, etc. Going digital and paperless can save the earth big time and prevent waste pollution.
3. Saving The Trees
It is obvious that making requires cutting down of trees and every year, millions of trees are cut around the world just to make enough paper for a year. Can you imagine how much we are contributing to deforestation every year without even realizing it? Imagine how many trees every company can save if they go paperless and migrate all of their operations to the digital world.
By going paperless, not only will you be saving the trees and making the air we breathe a lot cleaner but digital documents are much easier to access as compared to physical documents since you don’t need to look around piles of documents just to find a single piece of paper you were looking for. It is a win-win situation that any company can’t ignore.
4. Water Conservation
Some people don’t even realize this or take into consideration that making paper requires water. Even making a single sheet of paper requires three gallons of water to make. This is a bit too much just for a single sheet of paper. Now realize how much water will be used for making thousands and millions of sheets of paper.
By going paperless, you will not only be contributing to saving the water on our already drying planet but digital documents are much easier to handle and sign, even from your mobile phone.
5. Prevent Deforestation
Deforestation not only involves cutting down trees but also involves the wild animals that rely on trees for their homes and shelter. Most of the endangered animal species in the world live in forests and humans have been cutting down millions of trees every year just to make sheets of paper. If you really care about the environment and the endangered species then this alone should be enough to go paperless since making paper involves cutting down trees and as a result, destruction of homes of many animals.
