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go green
Many Americans are looking for ways to conserve the environment. Reducing the consumption and transportation of paper can make a big impact.
Consider these statistics:
- One ton of uncoated virgin (non-recycled) printing and office paper uses 24 trees. (The National Arbor Day Foundation)
- One tree makes 16.67 reams of copy paper or 8,333.3 sheets. (The National Arbor Day Foundation)
- Every ton of paper recovered saves 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space. (American Forest & Paper Association)
- In 2006, total mail volume grew by 1.4 billion pieces, to a total of more than 213 billion pieces. (USPS 2006 Annual Report)
If every American household used eBills and online bill pay, it could reduce solid waste in U.S. landfills by more than 800,000 tons a year and help curb the release of greenhouse gases by 2.1 million tons, according to Javelin Strategy and Research. This could also save an estimated 18.5 million trees a year!
Make the Switch, Make a Difference
Turn off paper and do your part. According to the PayItGreen Alliance, by having your bills delivered electronically and paying them online, every year your household can:
- Save 6.6 pounds of paper
- Save 0.079 trees
- Conserve 4.5 gallons of gasoline that would be used to mail bills, statements and payments
- Avoid the release of 63 gallons of waste water into the environment
- Avoid producing 171 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions
But don’t take our word for it, use our Environmental Savings Calculator to see for yourself what your household impact can be and the cumulative results if more households turned off paper bills and statements.
The Environment Benefits, But So Do You
In addition to saving the environment, you can save time. Receiving and paying bills online each month reduces this chore from hours to minutes. And with the extra time, you could plant a tree!
You’ll save money too. Since you won’t be paying bills the old fashioned way — writing checks, licking stamps and mailing — you’ll keep more green in your wallet. Use our Cash & Time Savings Calculator to see how much money and time you'll get back.
Helpful Resources
For more information about the positive environmental impact of eBills and online bill pay, visit www.payitgreen.org.
To reduce the amount of commercial and non-profit mail you receive and remove your name from these mailing lists, visit www.DMAChoice.org, the Direct Marketing Association’s (DMA) Consumer Information site.
“Switch to tree-free billing and pay those bills online with the click of a button or an automatic debit. Approximately one billion trees-worth of paper are trashed each year in the U.S., and hard copy bills alone generate almost two million tons of carbon dioxide. Both you and the planet will be happier without the excess garbage.”
~ The Green Guide (a National Geographic Society publication), Earth Day Tips