By reusing signs and banners, your team can avoid unnecessary printing costs and the environmental impacts of unnecessary printing.

Consider designing banners so that they can be easily reused, by avoiding listing dates or years, or ensure that the portions listing these dates can be readily and cheaply altered. Also consider producing signs from more durable materials. While they may cost more initially, they can save money in the long run.

A typical office disposes of about 350 pounds of wastepaper per employee per year. If your team figures out ways to save some of that paper, you can avoid turning some of your team’s revenues over to its paper suppliers.

In 2005, the EPA Region 10 offices (in the Northwest U.S.) made a concerted effort to reduce paper use in its offices in operations. Through a variety of initiatives including default double-sided printing and collection of scrap paper for further use, the office reduced paper consumption by 30%, yielding an annual savings of $49,000. Case Study

In 1994, Bank of America partnered with EPA’s WasteWise program and began implementing programs to reduce paper use. By encouraging double-sided printing in offices, switching to a centralized distribution system of company procedure manuals, and switching to double-sided printing on customer banking statements, they were able to save over $1 million in avoided costs. Case Study Later, by reducing the basis weight of its ATM receipts from 20 pounds to 15 pounds, Bank of America saved more than just paper; this simple move also gained the bank additional savings in transportation, storage and handling costs of approximately $500,000 a year.

Catalog retailers mail out about 17 billion catalogs every year -- that's nearly 60 per person in the United States -- and almost none of them use postconsumer recycled content paper. That's why Norm Thompson's cutting-edge, industry-leading commitment is so valuable. Norm Thompson prints its catalogs on 10 percent postconsumer recycled paper, and has set a company goal of increasing that figure to an average of 30 percent postconsumer recycled paper before 2008. The company estimates that it has saved:

• 4,400 tons of wood per year
• 20 billion BTUs of energy
• 11.7 million gallons of water
• 990 tons of solid waste

The paper industry is responsible for the harvesting of countless acres of forest habitat every year and is one of the world’s largest industrial sources of water pollution. In addition, it is the third-largest industrial contributor to global warming pollution. Reducing the amount of paper your team uses helps to reduce these impacts.

WasteWise – How to Start or Expand a Recycling Program
Minnesota Guide to Source Reduction