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Why Paperless Invoicing is Better
Is Paper Bad for Us?
So, you’re going green by adopting the healthy habits of recycling and composting, but are you really being environmentally friendly? Are you still getting those paper bills in the mail or a paper check each week? Phone bills, doctor bills, mortgage bills- they tend the pile up rather quickly. What if we told you that your paper consumption is actually damaging the environment? That’s right, recycling your paper isn’t quite enough to reduce your carbon footprint.
The U.S., which contains only 5 percent of the world’s population, uses 30 percent of all paper. That means that each person in the United States uses 749 pounds of paper every year (adding up to a whopping 187 billion pounds per year for the entire population.) (Ecology)
We all know paper is made from trees, but how many exactly? Did you know that nearly 4 billion trees or 35 percent of the total trees cut around the world are used in paper industries on every continent? (Ecology) Let’s put things into perspective, it takes 75,000 trees to print a Sunday edition of the New York Times! With each tree producing enough oxygen for 3 people to breathe, you see the problem here.
Besides deforestation, the production of paper is extremely harmful to the environment. According to the U.S. Toxic Release Inventory report published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), pulp and paper mills are the third largest industrial polluter to air, water and land of any industry in the country. Not to mention, when paper rots, it emits methane gas which is 25 times more toxic than CO2.
Paper Side Effects
Yes, paper itself if harmful to the environment, but how about the ink that is used to print on it?
Manufacturing just one single toner cartridge emits around 8kg CO2 Greenhouse Gases per cartridge. More than 375 million empty ink and toner cartridges are tossed into the trash every year, most of which end up in landfills. This means that 11 cartridges per second and 1 million cartridges per day are thrown away. Many ink cartridges are made of plastic, meaning it takes 1000 years for an ink cartridge to fully decompose in a landfill site. (Energy Collective) These discarded ink cartridges leak into our soil and waterways, contaminating our environment.
Save the Planet
How do we as consumers help? It’s easier than you think. Many companies offer electronic billing or direct deposit. Americans save 452,819 trees per year for every 5 percent of households that switch to electronic bills, statements and payments, PayItGreen claims. They estimate that a household that receives five paper bills and five paper statements and makes five paper payments a month would save 34 gallons of wastewater and 1.1 gallons of gasoline and prevent 61 pounds of greenhouse gases a year by switching to electronic bills, statements and payments.
HDS E-Billing Service
You value the planet and so do we. Homewood Disposal Service offers paperless billing to make payments online. You can also sign up for auto-pay and service updates. Not only does this simplify your monthly chores, but it helps further save the environment. Join us in taking the step to reduce our carbon footprint. Learn more about how to sign up for our paperless billing here.