Reducing Our Impact On The Environment

We at The Survey Initiative are absolutely committed to reducing our impact on the environment and have established a carbon neutral policy.

One of the actions we take to show our commitment is to continue to conduct communications online to reduce paper usage and waste where-ever possible. As an employee research company producing bespoke employee engagement surveys, we’ve developed technology that allows participants to complete their survey electronically, as well as review their reports electronically, either through e-mail, website or mobile applications. We aim to continue to develop how the data is presented electronically to both meet the needs of our clients and also contribute to our commitment to reducing the use of paper.

So, today, we’d like to share some tips with you about how you can go paperless in the office, reduce paper waste in the workplace, and what the benefits are.

Tips to becoming paperless

• E-mail can be used to share documents and ideas.
• Instead of printing a Web page, bookmark it or save the page on your hard drive and pull it up when needed.
• Instead of paper hand-outs, make use of overhead projectors, white boards and presentation software.
• File documents electronically within your organisation.
• Share newsletters and other internal communications electronically.
• Order supplies via e-mail.
• Produce invoices and remittances electronically.
• Review, edit and share draft documents on-screen.

Tips to reduce paper consumption

• Preview documents before printing. Use the print preview to spot formatting errors and blank pages before you print.
• If a document must be printed, print only the pages you need.
• Try to use both sides of a sheet of paper for printing, copying, writing and drawing.
• Print on recycled paper.
• Use a single space format for the text of final documents when possible.
• Print drafts in a smaller font with narrower margins. Simply changing the default margins from 1.25″ to 1″ can reduce the amount of paper you use.
• Use space-efficient fonts like Times New Roman.
• Reuse paper that’s already printed on one side by manually feeding it into copiers and printers.
• Use the size reduction feature offered on many copiers. Two pages of a book or document can often be copied onto one standard sheet.
• Reuse old paper for notepads. It can be cut to custom sizes and simply stapled together.

Benefits of reduced paper usage

• Storage and handling – paper is bulky to store, in boxes or in file cabinets. Using fewer sheets means you can put storage space to more productive use.
• Postage costs – fewer sheets mailed means may mean reduced postage.
• Security – information held electronically can be protected better than that on paper either from physical theft or from a variety of disasters (fire, flood etc.)
• Lost and misfiled – it’s a lot easier to lose or misfile paper documents. Organisations can take control of their storage and archiving systems by using electronic methods.
• Reduce costs – organisations can save money on printing, mailing, paper and storage.
• Access – with today’s technology moving faster than ever, it’s easier to access documents electronically, anywhere, anytime.
• And of course, environmental impact – reduces the amount of deforestation, reduces the need for land-fill sites, reduces energy used and release of harmful gases in pulp and paper industry, reduces fuel consumption by air, rail and road transport distributing reams of paper and sending paper documents, and reduces the manufacturing of printers, ink and toner cartridges.

We’re sure that there is little doubt that paperless is where organisations are moving to. With developments in mobile applications, cloud storage, and file sharing changing the landscape of the modern office, the change to becoming paperless is easier than ever – and getting easier.

Visit our website for more information about what we do or to view our complete carbon neutral policy, or contact us on +44 (0) 1255 850051.