The Great Environmental Question - How Much Paper Does Your Business Use?

Consider this: Australians as a whole use 210,000 tonnes of office paper each year and New Zealand uses about 48,000 tonnes. Much of this is not made from recycled sources but logged from virgin forests which serve as important habitats for countless species of wildlife.

And it's not just the trees you have to think about. According to Waterfootprint.org, it takes 10 litres of water to produce 1 sheet of A4 paper. Meanwhile, according to the Australasian Cartridge Remanufacturing Association, Australians use about 4 million toner cartridges and 12 million ink cartridges a year. If they were all laid end to end, they would stretch the distance from Sydney to Hobart.

There are plenty of ways that an individual or small office can reduce their paper consumption. For starters consider these points on office paper use:

- Print documents only when necessary - many offices are going "paperless" opting to store company records and files in digital format. Try backing up your files on an external hard drive instead of keeping hard copies of records. Have your presentations available in digital format that you can send to your attendees instead of distributing hand outs.

- Scan instead of fax - instead of faxing your documents, which requires printing the page, scan them in electronic form and email them across. There are also a number of services available that allow companies to receive faxes as email attachments so they don't have to be printed.

- Print double sided - a multi function printer with auto duplex allows you to adjust your settings to print double sided by default. You can also set privileges in a way so that only certain individuals have access to colour or single sided printing - so you end up with less paper waste.

- Recycle your cartridges and toners - there are a number of cartridge collection facilities conveniently located throughout Australia. You can hand in ink jet cartridges and used toner cartridges from most laser printers and inkjet printers.

- Buy recycled - purchasing recycled office paper means you're saving trees and helping the planet. Otherwise, look for paper that is harvested from sustainable tree plantations - this process ensure your paper isn't made from old growth forests. The Forest Stewardship Council certifies paper that meets their sustainable logging standards.

Next time you print an email or report stop and think if you really need to print. Not only will your efforts be helping the planet, but they can help you reduce your business printing costs and cut down on your overhead expenses - now that's smart business.