A2B the pain-free paper cut

Incredible thought it may seem, the average office worker prints approximately 1,584 A4 sheets of paper every month (Source: Envirowise). At 500 sheets a ream, that's 3 reams of paper used, per person, per month.  A small business with ten staff would use 30 reams per month. Which equates to around 24 mature trees a year.

It wouldn't be too bad if all this paper was put to good use. But a recent study by Xerox showed that 45% of it is binned by the end of the same day. This less-than-one day lifespan is the fate of a trillion sheets of paper per year, worldwide. Source: Environmental Paper Network: Increasing Paper Efficiency, January 2008.

A new way of thinking

So far, the solutions have focused heavily on recycling. Recycling paper is preferable to sending it to landfill. However recycling is just one strand of a paper reduction strategy.  Paper which is not recycled and goes to landfill emits toxic methane as it decomposes.  As space for landfill runs out this is also becoming an expensive option. With the process of recycling using high amounts of energy and increasing inputs of virgin paper for each recycling, we now know that recycling is not the sole solution to paper waste reduction.

Which is where GREEN co-founder and Creative Partner, Graham Lewis, stepped in. Graham realised that instead of cleaning up the back end of the process, it would be far better to reduce consumption from the start.

However most reduction strategies have required a considerable commitment from the end user. Yes, people can print on both sides of the paper. Or not print at all. But human nature being what it is, they'd really prefer to carry on as before.

The solution is brilliantly simple. Just reduce the standard sheet size for general office use in the UK from A size to B size paper - instantly saving 30% on paper used compared with an A4 sheet, based on surface area. It's the perfect way to reduce paper waste with the least environmental impact and the lowest disruption and cost to business.

Gathering support

B size paper isn't new. Copiers and printers are already configured to use it. Now all we need is to build a coalition of stakeholder partners to support and provide advocacy within their sectors for changing the standard sheet size of business.

We are currently in the process of asking companies in the office equipment, financial services, stationary and paper sectors as well as local councils and City Hall to join their cross-sector coalition to drive the change. GREEN will also be asking software manufacturer Microsoft to change UK default settings for Microsoft Office page layouts from A4 to B5.

We've secured endorsements from key environmental organisations including  DEFRA, Direct marketing Association, Energy Saving Trust  and The Carbon Neutral Company who can provide infrastructure support, e.g. customer surveys, call centres, campaign logistics and measurement of carbon impacts.

UK usage of plain paper is at an all-time high of 13.7 million tonnes (1 tonne = 400 reams) and DEFRA says more than 5 trillion reams of paper are going to waste each year.

It has to stop. Our A2B campaign is one way we can all take the waste out of paper.