EPA New England: Greening Our Operations

Paper Use

Electronic Transmission- Saving paper with office automations

Electronic Transmission	Printing	Mail

Electronic technologies such as e-mail, scanning, and the Internet let us communicate and process information without generating paper.  While a lot of our work requires the use of paper, our Green Team is minimizing our paper consumption by expanding our use of electronic technologies.

Publications & Forms
We're creating electronic versions of many internal forms and publications. Some examples:

• Inside Source, the EPA New England staff newsletter
• Combined Federal Campaign brochure
• Employee paystubs
• Newsclips, a compilation of daily news stories

We're continuing to increase our inventory of copy machines that can scan documents and create electronic versions for distribution and storage. In addition, certain documents received in paper from external sources are now being received electronically. 

We're converting more documents as we gain knowledge and experience.

Data Management Systems
As an office with a large workforce, we use several systems to manage the administrative functions we need to keep working. These include employee timekeeping, travel approval/reimbursement and vehicle/conference room reservations. These systems are now on-line and require very little paper.

Communication
An electronic fax system has been integrated with our e-mail system. This allows us to send and receive faxes directly from our e-mail, reducing the need for paper when sending or receiving faxes. Other e-mail features, such as distribution to large groups of users, are also supported for the faxes.

Electronic Records
We're converting certain records to electronic media to reduce the need for paper and storage space in our on-site record center.

At home and at work, we can all take steps to reduce our paper usage.  Use the links below for information and ideas:

Paper Consumption, Using Less Wood Quick Facts Series, Resource Conservation Alliance (PDF) (2 pp., 159 KB, About PDF)
Statistics on paper consumption in the US, impacts on the environment, techniques for reducing paper usage in the office, links for more information

Reducing Office Paper Waste, Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, May 2004 (PDF) (6 pp, 119K, About PDF)
Businesses and institutions are discovering they can reduce costs and preserve  our natural resources by reducing, reusing and recycling paper.

Creating a Paper Waste Reduction Campaign, California Integrated Waste Management Board

Become a Paperless Office, Minnesota Office of Environmental Assistance
Lots of tips, a fact sheet, posters about the 3Es for reducing paper usage:  Economical, Environmental and Efficient

Cutting Paper, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
Ideas, actions, measurement and other tools – practical information about how to reduce the amount of paper you use.

 

Regional Snapshot Timekeeping and travel are now on-line, using much less paper to process.