Saving paper is the need of the hour

Every sector and company has begun contributing its bit towards the cause. Some retailers have started using eco-friendly and energy efficient cooling and power systems after investing heavily but they failed to pay heed to something as small as cutting down on the use of paper, which requires no investment. Seldom do the retailers realise that printing extraneous information not only costs more but creates clutter too. Retailers must begin the ‘turning the retail eco-friendly’ exercise by recycling paper.

 

Measure to keep the paper usage under control

Judicious use of printer: Re-use printer paper so that both sides are used. Always keep two trays beside the printer, one that of brand-new paper and the other of pre-used paper. You can use the pre used paper for the internal office work. NCR India has recently launched RealPOS Two-sided Thermal Receipt Printer which enables the user to use 45 per cent  less paper that culminates to 5-25 per cent saving in paper receipt investment.

Use of emails:  Retailers can keep the paper usage under control by using emails rather than distributing fliers and catalogues. E-mails can be more reasonable and simple alternative to fliers and catalogues. Retailers can keep databank of the e-mail ids of their customers and can send them emails about all the recent activities.

Recycling of waste paper: Oberoi Mall in Mumbai has a paper recycling program that utilises all used paper within the mall’s premises.  In addition, as a part of corporate social responsibility program, during the Ganesha festival the mall management stepped out to collect newspapers and unwanted papers from the houses in the neighborhood, this was recycled and used to create a unique Ganesha idol.

Contribution by the employees: All employees in the mall and retail outlets should be advised to make optimum use of every single paper before passing it into the recycle-waste.

Initiatives taken by malls and retailers:  Retailers, as well as, malls should take care of the consumption of paper. “Oberoi Mall is planning to organise various workshops for children where they will be taught the importance of re-cycling and reusing paper, which is part of our Building Tomorrow Campaign,” says Mr. Shibu Philips, Business Head, Oberoi Mall.

 

How can customers contribute?

Customers can also help the retailers by contributing a bit; they can carry the paper bags from home so that retailers don’t have to provide them one every time they shop. Customers should not ask for paper catalogues and fliers from retailers, they should either preserve the old ones or should prefer getting it online.  Customers should carry paper bags and not poly-bags because poly-bags take longer than paper bags to dispose and in return can cause environmental hazards.

Contribution made by Oberoi mall

  • Recycling and reusing of paper for internal communication
  • Double sided printing
  • Instead of tissues in the bathroom the mall has hand dryers
  • The mall keeps a daily count of the papers used in the office.
  • It has implemented efforts to engage the community to grow trees.  In addition, the mall itself is engaged in horticulture practices in the surrounding areas.

 

Things that retailers should do

  • Retailers should ask their employees to use the paper judiciously, to keep tabs on the usage of paper every printed paper should have name of the employee who printed on it.
  • Retailers should switch to paper bags from poly bags or should ask the customers to carry the paper bags from home.
  • Retailers should use cloth napkins instead of paper napkins for internal use
  • Retailers should use waste papers for internal communication
  • Retailers should prefer online mode to communicate with their customers
  • Retailers should prefer using recycled paper because round about 40 per cent of the landfill waste is composed of paper waste and it contributes to 1/4th of greenhouse gas emissions. Hence, using recycled paper has wider benefits, beyond the reduction of plastic waste.
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