Americans Eager to go Paperless

As Americans, we use too much paper. Years ago, we were told that technology would bring us “paperless offices” and “paperless schools,” and while it should have done so by now, it hasn't. We're still drowning in paper. If you look around your own office, chances are, you'll still find a few people who insist on printing out their e-mails. Direct marketing ads still flood the mailbox; utility companies, insurance companies, banks and other service providers still drown us in nine-page bills and statements, and contracts are still five times longer than they need to be.

According to a survey commissioned by digital document company Nitro, many Americans are actually rather keen to reduce their use of paper. The survey of 1,000 adults conducted by TNS Global Market Research, found that three-quarters of Americans believe that reducing their paper consumption for environmental reasons is important. Forty-four percent said they would like to commit to cutting their paper consumption in half over the next five to 10 years.

However, not all paper is created equal, as the study found out. When broken out by different types of paper, the survey found the following:

• 48 percent would be willing to reduce their use of newspapers;
• 45.9 percent would reduce their use of magazines;
• 37.6 percent are happy to reduce their use of forms, contracts, documents (no doubt a lawyer's nightmare);
• 31.6 percent are willing to reduce their use of books (the rise of e-readers will make this one easy); and 6.1 percent would be willing to reduce their use of toilet paper.

Wait...toilet paper?

If there is one item in everyday life that is less thought about but more critical, it would appear to be toilet paper. While most people are happy to do away with the yellow pages (who uses those anymore anyway?), the mailbox full of circulars, paper bill statements and even books (as long as there's a nice new Kindle or iPad in the offing), the thought that six percent of people are so game they would give up toilet paper may make the rest of us feel rather humble. (And suspicious of our fellow citizens' hygiene, as well.)