Paper Waste

We all know that reducing waste is an important part of climate action. Eliminating wasteful activities is one of the most important prerequisites for building a successful company. We live and breath Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement. Every day we identify and eliminate waste in business processes and here we are sharing tips and advice for going paperless in the office.

You might be familiar with different types of waste:

Organic

Plastic

Battery

Glass

Mixed waste

Metal

Paper

Light bulbs

E-waste

A photocopy machine is one of the most important pieces of equipment in (m)any office(s). Is there really a need to print everything? Every invoice, bank statement, every email that you study before an important call, a chart, your speech, personal documents perhaps? We know ways to save important documents digitally (save money - paper and ink costs real money, did you know? ;p) and time (you don't have to get up and walk to the printer and back & then find out you collected someone else's copies;) ). If you smiled it means it happened to you.

Did you know that printing can cost up to 3% of annual revenue and be the third highest expense after payroll and rent?

By going paperless you will:

Save money by reducing office supply costs and overall operational costs

Save time by managing and accessing your documents more effectively

Save environment by not cutting the trees

Increase productivity and efficiency by going digital

Our tips and advice for going paperless in the office:
1. Print smarter
2. Go paperless

1. How to print smarter (How to reduce paper consumption)

• Only print if there is a real need for a hard copy.
• Set up printer to automatically print double sided (can cut paper usage by half).
• Set the default printing to grey scale or black and white if your default printing in color.
• Change font type and size (don’t use bold font style, size not bigger than 12 ).
• Use “fit to page” and fit all columns to one-page (Excel) settings.
• Buy paper made from 100% post consumer waste

2. Go paperless (How to save money and planet)

• Consider a dual or multi-monitor setup. Use two screens simultaneously for ease of cross referencing them with another document.
• Use email, instant messages, centralised monitor or TV screens for office announcements, paper free internal communications.
• Use projector for presentations, rather than printing paper slides (alternatively use presentation board or flip chart).
• Ask IT dept to add email signatures that discourage the unnecessary printing of email messages. Green font colour will do the job.
• Introduce centralised office filing system (shared drive).
• Consider paperless (online) marketing.
• Move to digital invoices and statements (request paperless bank statements, inform customers about purchase order emails, speak to vendors/customers about digital invoice options).
• Make a conscious effort to pay bills online.
• All purchasing invoices received electronically should to be filed electronically along with the scanned paper invoices received as a hardcopy.
• Eliminate hard copy contracts (with employees or customers).
• Use electronic signature when possible.
• Scrap paper can be used to make note pads (recycle and reuse).
• Replace paper forms with online forms (instal tablet at reception for guest to register or sign in e.g. hotel, medical clinic).
• Completely discard fax from the business process (use online fax provider instead).
• Make it less convenient to print and remove printers from employees’ desks.

If you are interested in learning more or getting started on a project to jumpstart your digital transformation journey, contact Shiny Solutions today. We are happy to review your processes and automate them. At the same time we would look into reducing operational costs and reduce the need to print documents in your office.

We have solutions tailored to our client individual needs

and ... we are ready when you are CONTACT US