15 tonnes of paper saved already

Within its first few days, the Shrink website has gathered paper-saving pledges from people all over the world – from Azerbaijan and Austria, from Belgium and Brazil, from China and Croatia and more. Reductions of more than 15 tonnes of paper have been pledged, which will save more than 1.5 million litres of water, 100 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, 18 tonnes of pollution and 400 trees. Together these pledges show people willing to take practical steps to waste less of this precious and useful material.

Many of the pledgers have suggested helpful ways to cut paper waste. Some people have made their own special pledge and some have contributed to our online forum for ideas at http://www.shrinkpaper.org/share-ideas-forum.htm.  The most frequently mentioned paper-saving tip is to re-use paper by printing or writing on the backs of sheets used on only one-side.  Almost as many people point out the paper saving that comes from reducing margin widths when printing (to find out how, see www.changethemargins.com), or reducing print to 50% to fit two pages to a sheet. Re-using envelopes and paper bags is another popular idea. Avoiding tissue gets several mentions, especially using cotton bibs and cloths for babies - start them young!

It is gratifying to see so many people pledging to communicate with others about the need to reduce paper use, whether by lobbying big paper-using companies or by putting a ‘do not print’ message on all their emails. And of course many people are telling their friends, colleagues and families to come to www.shrinkpaper.org and make a pledge. Pledgers have lots of many other specific ideas about how to reduce the flow of paper from our mailboxes to our rubbish bins, and here at Shrink HQ we are working out how best to share these all with you.

For now, join us at the forum (http://www.shrinkpaper.org/share-ideas-forum.htm) and thanks for all your pledges – keep them coming!