MCC Daily Tribune

Green Tip: Saving Paper, Saving Trees

According to the 2016 Household Diary Study conducted by the U.S. Postal Regulatory Commission (https://www.prc.gov/docs/100/100837/FY2016%20Household%20Diary%20Study.pdf), each household in the US received 8.9 bills through the mail each month. Individuals between 35 and 64 years old received only 20% of their bills online.

Switching to electronic bills, statements and payments helps save paper and trees. In addition, the amount of greenhouse gases is reduced as well as wastewater and use of gasoline for mailing. Climate Central (https://www.climatecentral.org/gallery/graphics/the-power-of-trees) reports that trees remove 10 to 20% of the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions each year, help prevent flooding by catching rainwater, and absorb 35 billion pounds of air pollutants each year. RG&E states that their eBill customers saved 3.5 million pieces of paper in 2018. With one tree producing around 17 reams (3500 sheets) of paper, that is a lot of trees saved!

You can calculate how much you can reduce your environmental impact by switching to electronic billing statements and payments in the sidebar using this "Financial Paper Footprint" calculator (bottom right) at https://electronicpayments.nacha.org/direct-payment/consumers/direct-payment-consumers "What is your financial paper footprint?"

Ann Penwarden
Sustainability Steering Committee’s Recycling Committee
06/04/2019