Paper is a part of our daily life. Paper’s consumption is not much in our personal lives, but its consumption in the workplace is much more than we think. If we go back to years ago, perhaps we have no choice but to consume more paper in our workplace. However, we knew that producing, distributing, using, and disposing of paper requires much energy and raw materials. Also, despite spending extra costs associated with using paper such as printers, printer ink, paper clips, folders, pens, there were time and energy costs for archiving and finding our paper documents. Still, we could not reduce paper consumption more than a certain amount.
But what about today? To what extent have we addressed our concerns about reducing paper consumption by using technology and the modern world?
Today, with the best methods, programs, online systems, and cloud storage, it is possible to minimize paper use. You need to be an up-to-date and modern company and give up traditional and old methods. We should believe that excessive paper consumption causes severe damage to the environment, and reducing their use is feasible in a modern workplace.
Among the various types of companies and organizations, some use paper much more because of their nature. One of these is marketing research companies. These companies spend a lot of paper every year preparing questionnaires, paper forms, and archiving their documents.
As a marketing research company, Rahbar Bazaar Company consumed a lot of paper until a few years ago. But by using the slogan “usefulness is not easy” and by culture-building among its employees to protect the environment, it has reduced the amount of paper consumption in its organization by almost 90%. The first step in this direction has been to put ourselves on the technology path and turn Rahbar bazaar into a very modern organization. We quickly got out of a traditional company form with the following efforts and depicted a more modern impression.
- Using dedicated software to prepare digital questionnaires
- Using tablet and laptop tools to complete questionnaires
- Increasing desktops, laptops, tablets, and phones for all employees
- Using digital forms for all work execution stages
- Using cloud storage to store files
- Using shared files
- Enforcing the law of using both on paper
- Executing electronic payments
- Receiving online receipts
- Using paper recycling bins and turning “paper recycling” into a considerable note
- Minimal use of a printer and only if needed
- Using online newspaper and magazines subscription
- Using a particular file-sharing space (Google Docs) that make it possible for several people to share a file at the same time, and also there is a possibility to track changes by each person
- Using dedicated online portals to manage personnel’s performance with the possibility of accessing from anywhere and by any device, even mobile
- Creating a work environment as a combination of people who are present in the company environment and people who work remotely
By digitizing many aspects of managing its organization, Rahbar bazaar Company benefits from the full advantages of an entirely modern company. At present, with the increase of remote employees in Rahbar Bazaar Company, due to the covid-19 epidemic and greater use of technology facilities, the use of paper has been reduced more than before. The most important benefits that our company has gained by reducing paper consumption are as follows:
- Contributing to the global stream of environmental protection
- Supporting for irreplaceable green space source
- Maintaining the security of files, data, and documents stored in the cloud storage
- Digital workflow that speeds things up
- Reducing the cost of buying paper
- Reducing file storage costs
- Reducing management costs
- Reducing printing costs
Perhaps if this culture had been built many years ago and people were forced to take full advantage of papers, it would have provided excellent service to the environment. However, it is not too late, and the cooperation of private entities, companies, and organizations can prevent countless cutting trees.
