Did you know that at least 36% of landfill waste is comprised of paper products. I was pretty shocked when I read that statistic but the more I think about it the more it makes sense. On a daily basis I visit my paper recycle bin several times. Most products I purchase have some paper packaging, my mail is all paper that eventually gets recycled, try as I might the recycle bin under my desk fills up with old printouts and photocopies. In fact, the average office worker will go through 2.5 pounds of paper a week.

"Americans discard 4 million tons of office paper every year -- enough to build a 12 foot high wall of paper from New York to California." That’s 68,000,000 trees in total.

Here is the Top Ten Paper Saving Tips:

1. NO JUNK MAIL
If you don’t already have a sign on your mailbox get one. Trust me you aren’t going to miss out on any deals. If you’re in the market for some hot new item you’ll be able to call around and find a better deal than the flyers would have told you anyway.

2. Extra Extra
Get rid of your newspaper boy and start reading the news online or spend 30 minutes on lunch break at work to read their paper.

3. Online Billing
There two things happening here, the service provider is sending you bills in the mail and then your sending the payment back. You can choose to pay online, if you do that make sure you let them know you don’t need the extra envelope inside. Better yet, get them to send you the bill online and pay online to cut the paper trail altogether.

4. Bring your own Cup
Another one for all those coffee drinkers, make sure you bring your own travel mug whenever possible. Those paper cups littering the streets are disgusting and easily avoidable.

5. Printing At Work
Use the backsides of paper until you get your report ready for primetime. Reduce font sizes to squeeze more on each page. If your printing off reports of web info make sure you only print the pages you need.

6. Choose Recycled Paper Products
Make sure you choose paper products that have been recycled if and when possible. This insures that you’re already in the reuse cycle of the paper.

7. Rags versus Paper Towels
There isn’t much explanation needed here. If you start saving those old t-shirts instead of throwing them away you should have plenty of rags around to clean up those spills around the house. Rewashing those rags once in a while is going to save a ton of paper towels.

8. No More Notepads or Coloring Books
Reuse, reuse, reuse. Instead of buying brand new coloring books for the kids or notepads for the grocery list bring home some recycled paper from work and staple it together.

9. Bulk Shopping
When you visit the grocery store make sure you buy large quantities of non-perishables. They aren’t going to go bad and you know you’ll use them so get the one big box versus the three little ones.

10. Coffee and Tea
There are alternatives everywhere even when drinking your morning coffee or tea. Make sure you buy reusable tea ball bags, every little bit counts. Don’t forget about the paper coffee filters, it’s easy to find coffee machines with proper reusable filters.

» Lisa Shea