Proud To Be A Paperless Company!

I have been a closet activist when it comes to environmental issues and I try to reform the world in my own little way. Wherever I am, I try to help out as much as I could in making the world a greener place to live in. I may not be first in line when it comes to public demonstrations but I make sure that my contribution to the environment is significantly helpful.

I have been exposed to different industries and so far, I am proud to say that my current employer is adhering to eliminating the use of paper in the office. Yes, we still use paper but it has been minimized to a certain percentage that the company is now benefiting from these practices.

According to some research done by Tom Soder, then a graduate student in the Pulp and Paper Technology Program at the University of Maine, he calculated a rough average of 24 trees to produce a ton of printing and writing paper. This is based on a mixture of softwoods and hardwoods 40 feet tall and 6-8 inches in diameter using the kraft chemical pulping process. And base on statistics, 500,000 acres of trees are being cut down per year to meet these demands.

To minimize the growing demand of papers, most companies today are doing a paper-recycling program to decrease the risk of deforestation. According to Nobile, Philip. Complete Ecology Fact Book, p. 379. - 1 ton (907kg) of recycled paper spares 17 trees. Imagine that...

There were countless research and propaganda that called out for a reduction of paper consumption in most companies but to no avail, a lot did not adhere. Until today, majority of these titans are still consuming way too much paper. Most of them used it to file confidential data and information.

On the advent of modernization, everyone is now equipped with modern ways in dealing with data. Companies are now pressured to use the Internet to communicate and send large size data because it is faster and more efficient. They are now investing in services like colocationand virtual/physical servers that houses all company files. But still, the issue of decreasing the paper consumption is questionable. I believe that most companies are still not looking at the bigger picture when it comes to the benefits of digitizing their data. And some are most likely not to care.

Digitizing these massive amount of data requires time and training since most employees are used to the old ways. This however is a cost not all companies want to invest in. As a result, a prerequisite in hiring people is to know the fundamentals of using a personal computer. But there is a loophole here in the hiring process. Yes, companies are hiring tech-savvy people in doing the job but what lacks is the follow up trainings that teaches how to be productive and efficient when using these gadgets at work.

Looking at the scenario I presented, I came to think about the natural resources being put to waste because not all of us are educated in doing our part for nature. I know being uneducated is not a crime but it is not an excuse. We can all participate in greening the world by doing our own initiatives in helping mother nature. So as a personal mission to help gaia, we are now maximizing our technology in the office to lessen the usage of paper.

To give you an idea how we operate, let me itemized the things we do (and don't) in the work place.

• Everyone is given a wifi enabled laptop
• The company premises is wifi ready so that everyone can work anywhere comfortably
• All employee table is equipped with an Ethernet cable to connect to the Local Area Network via cable
• All employee records are digitize and filed under a secure server that only our HR can access
• All approvals of collateral are done via email
• Filing of leaves and status request are done electronically
• All tasks are listed on a customize website
• We maximize our office tools by using Microsoft Office Suite for calendars, email, documents, spread sheets, even note taking.
• The only time we use paper is if we need it to get a printed copy of our records for other purposes. (like filing for a utility bill, etc.)

As a result, we reduce our paper consumption by 90% from the original number when there was still limited number of laptops and computers.

We believe that "printing" is a privilege and not a right so that no one abuses the printer :)

So there you have it, I am proud to be part of a paperless company! As of the moment, I am helping out in the company to achieve an ISO 9000 and 14000 certification and I hope to make it happen soon (preferably next year). But I know there are a lot of things that still needs fixing and we are taking it one step at a time...