A new campaign and Web site aimed at reducing paper consumption, called “Shrink,” was recently launched by a network of more than 50 European environmental non-governmental organizations. The Web site invites individuals as well as corporate and institutional paper users to pledge to cut their paper consumption.
The Web site enables people to make a personal pledge to use less paper and commit to simple actions, such as signing off junk mail and printing double-sided if printing cannot be substituted by electronic channels. It provides useful tips for running a comprehensive paper use reduction program in an office, and how to save costs by doing so. The Web site will provide a running tally of the amount of trees, water, pollution and climate change emissions saved through the pledges made.
Coinciding with the global launch of “Shrink” is a specific communication focus by the EEPN in the UK to some of the UK’s biggest paper consumers–banks, magazine publishers, catalogue companies and supermarkets–inviting them to show global responsibility and to commit to paper use reductions following the example of individual pledges on www.shrinkpaper.org
“By using paper more efficiently, companies and individuals can cut paper purchases and related costs such as toner, storage, handling time, and disposal, so as well as the environmental and social benefits of saving paper, it can also save money,” said Jim Ford of ClimateForIdeas.org
