It is truly amazing how much paper we waste as a society. I personally must get rid of ten to twenty sheets a day at work. We recycle it but I know many places of business and personal homes around the country do not. I was thinking about ATM paper the other day and how wasteful we are with that example. Millions of people visit the ATM each day and the ATM paper rolls spit out a receipt of the transaction that just took place. And what do we all do? We throw it right into the trash. I know that little piece of ATM paper seems insignificant, but as a whole it adds up to a great waste. I wish the bank could somehow send us a text message as a receipt of our transactions and take ATM paper rolls out of the equation altogether. I wonder how many trees that would save?
Another item people do not eve think about is bond paper. As a society, we feel it is important to use thicker, heavyweight paper when we have important or official documents. I find this to be so such a funny little anomaly of our society. A normal piece of paper will not suffice, we need it to be thicker and more official looking. Bond paper is not just made from any trees and that tree’s pulp, it is often made from Eucalyptus trees which helps to make it thicker and more durable. Also, with the use of bond paper and paper for official business transactions, we also feel the need to make tons of copies of these pages so that everyone has one and everything about the business that took place feels legitimate to everyone involved. Instead, we could just scan the original bond paper that was signed or was used for some sort of document and we could email it to everyone. These little habits of waste in our society can have a big impact if we truly look at them. I am pleased with the trend of electronic files and paperless bank statements as of late, but we should all take it a step further. I know ATM paper may seem insignificant but if we could really see the waste that is derived from all of those ATM paper rolls giving receipts all across the country, maybe it would shock us into changing all of these insignificant details of the business of our society.