5 Ways To Make Paper Supplies Last Longer

There are times you may be tempted to slap a paper rationing system on your employees to reduce the amount of paper used. This probably won't help; it will reduce productivity, not paper use. There are ways to reduce paper waste, however, so that your paper supplies last significantly longer. It is just a matter of thinking smart when it comes to paper use. You can still get just as much work done; only you can do it by using less paper.



Use duplex printing - Start implementing a plan to get employees to use both sides of the copy paper. There is no need to print each page on a separate sheet of paper, especially if it is for inter-office use. This adds up. For every sheet of copy paper used, one is saved. That really adds up. Make sure your employees know how to print on both sides of the paper, and then implement a policy. Give people time to adjust and keep stressing how much paper this saves.



Embrace the cloud, share files - Most of the time, paper copies aren't even needed. If you or an employee needs to save information, save it on your computer! Give a little mini class on how to organise the information on their computers and in the long run, you will save a lot on paper. Better yet, employees can save documents to a central location on the web so that it is accessible by any team member from anywhere, cutting back on paper use and also reducing the cost of mailing out files! Google Docs and Zoho are great ways to share information.



Cut down on memos - Use a company wide email, or post announcements to a centralised bulletin board instead of making paper memos to send out. The important thing is that the information gets read, not that it arrives on paper! Doing both increases the chance your employee will get the message, and you still save money on paper.



Make note pads from discarded paper - This is cheap, easy and practical. There is so much blank paper that makes its way into the garbage. Sometimes only a fraction of the page is used, and the rest of the page is clean. This paper makes fantastic note paper. Discourage employees from crumpling up paper before throwing it away, or designate 'use again' bins for paper that is relatively clean and can be used again. Just be aware that important or sensitive information isn't inadvertently shared via the recycle bin!



Keep your mailing list current - There is a lot of mail that goes undelivered. Paper, envelopes and postage all cost money. Keep your mailing list updated often to stop throwing away money by mailing wrong addresses or people who are no longer clients: you'd be very surprised as to how this adds up to more people than you'd think. It only takes a short time to update a mailing list, especially if it is kept up to date with regular updates. Initiate this practice and start saving on paper and money. In the long term, try and move mailing list subscribers to email and save even more cash.