What businesses waste the most paper, and why? Interesting question..
Here are some on a short list:
1. Telstra. A $22.00 bill doesn’t require 5 pages.
2. OTEN (TAFE NSW). A majority of the paper they send out can actually be delivered online.
3. Any business that is yet to consider electronic archiving of files. *Those that already have it in electronic form, and still insist on printing are some of the worst!
4. Australian Government agencies. They waste a LOT of paper, sending out letters to customers in some cases, telling them information they ALREADY know.
5. Hypocritical MPs, who claim the environment is of a great issue, yet they print it a few million times and post it to everyone, wasting both, paper, an envelope, and the fuel in the posties bike to deliver the crap.
WHAT A HUGE WASTE OF RESOURCES. Paper. Printed on and wasted.
I think these targets should be looked at, and if necessary, a financial tax imposed on them for wasting paper at an alarming rate.
Surely, they can at the very least reduce their consumption of paper.
1, Telstra can simply print a 2 sided, single page summary of an account, or better yet, give discounts for online billing, and stop mailing. ISPs that MAIL bills to customers are also BAD. If you need it, print the PDF! Stop advertising now we are talking trash, on our bill it took a whole page, and : I already knew about it, I would not likely support Telstra.
2, TAFE NSW print so much material for a module that takes 10 minutes to finish. I’m not kidding. 10 minutes. I must of flicked through a 60 page or more book, skipped the start, went to the back, tore off the assignment, completed it (and I’m sure its near correct), and ignored the pages. What a sad waste of paper, ink, electricity, postage, etc.
3, Not too familiar with many of these, but I did read someone else’s blog (can’t even remember who!), and they had a entry that said the business he worked for insisted on printing EVERYTHING, and storing it in walls of filing cabinents, despite also having a redundant backup cluster at their fingertips.. Outrageous. You can actually have 1 + 1 backups of cluster disks, if you are THAT concerned, and as a plus side, you can actually SEARCH for items as well, try that in a filing cabinent, without actually ending up stuck inside it ;).
4, Aussie Government agencies, they love to waste paper. It’s great. The ATO send me Activity Statements on an ABN I’ve not used in AT LEAST 2 years, and told them this, but they insisted I fill in a sheet of paper telling them exactly that, and fax it to them! Another example is Centrelink, who seem to like sending updates on how much they are paying your family, despite already knowing this several weeks before hand, thanks to their steps towards Online Services! They are half way there, they just gotta stop wasting postage on sending out useless letters.
5, Hypocritical MPs, the ones who say they care for the environment we live in. Or more to it, those Greenies, who hug trees, they like to also put posters up. The MPs mail everyone, trying to win votes in an election, BUT, one point mentioned was caring for the environment.. Well, have some care, save paper, ink, money, fuel and don’t mail us about it.
How many people have thrown those mail outs directly into the bin? Do we really want to know?..
Our local MP seemed to mention a few issues in his mailout. He did however completely ignore Broadband services. Why must we still be stuck on 1.5Mbps services? What are YOU going to do about it, IF I vote your paper wasting ass in ??
Environmental issues aren’t the real importance here, its the complete waste of paper anyway, even if it was non harmful for the environment, its still a waste of resources that could be better used. Telstra for example, could of used one of the many millions of pages others will throw out to instead write a letter to the ACCC asking for ADSL2+ exemptions..
Oh, sorry, Telstra don’t think, about their shareholders financials either.