Paperless improves efficiency & sustainability

Increase Enrolments and Improve Sustainability

by going paperless with Docuworx

Private schools are very competitive, many boasting about new building projects, optimised curriculums, or state-of-the-art technology centres to attract families and students.

However, many other initiatives can attract parents and students to your school.

Sustainability has become a vital issue in the past few years. Now, more than ever, people are looking to spend money on things that align with their principles, including education.

Thus, another effective strategy for boosting your school’s profile is to show the steps it is taking to reduce its carbon footprint – and not just talk about it!

Sustainability also boosts staff and student engagement

Working for a school with a sustainability initiative is becoming increasingly important to staff and students.

The younger generation is more engaged with sustainability issues than any previous generation, aiming to “be the change they want to see in the world”.

At Docuworx, we’re constantly working towards becoming carbon-neutral and are assessing the steps we must take to achieve this goal. We also work with other organisations in Asia-Pacific to digitally transform their business, often eliminating the use of paper in the process.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted our global interconnectedness and collective reliance as never before, one of the many reasons why staff and students are concerned about whether their school’s business practices are kind to the whole planet.

Going paperless is a big task but, by simply asking, “do we need to print this?’ or ‘Is there a better way to achieve this task?’

You are taking that first step.

So why get rid of paper?

We all know using paper-based systems drastically reduces productivity and increases costs, but what of the risk we pose to the environment by using paper?

Going paperless reduces forest impact, lessens the waste dumped into landfills, cuts energy use and lessens the impact on climate change.

According to data aggregator The World Counts, global paper production and cardboard will amount to 420,000,000 tons in 2021.

Here are some other frightening stats to consider:

Producing 1 kilo of paper requires 2-3 times its weight in trees. If everyone used 200 kilos of paper per year, there would be no trees left!

It takes 10 litres of water to produce a single sheet of A4 paper.

The pulp and paper industry is the single largest industrial consumer of water in western countries.

55% of the global paper supply comes from newly cut trees.

3 Consequences of Using paper

Deforestation:

Of all the trees harvested for industrial use globally, 42% go into paper production. Deforestation harms wildlife populations and increases the risk of soil erosion. Residential communities in heavily logged areas may also see increases in air and water pollution when removing trees from forests. Most significantly, forest loss contributes to climate change.

Pollution from production:

The environmental impact of paper only gets worse after harvesting trees, whilst paper and pulp manufacturing contribute to air, water, and land pollution. This manufacturing process is among the top 10 greenhouse gas emitting industries. Most of the paper manufactured is through kraft pulping, which involves chemical washing to create a wood pulp that is clean, white and ready for processing. Only about half a tree ends up surviving the pulping process, and it requires around 98 tons of chemicals to create one ton of paper. Many of these chemicals, such as furan, chloroform and dioxin, are volatile and carry known health risks to humans.

Pollution from waste:

Waste disposal is a major environmental threat associated with paper. Paper waste represents a substantial component of municipal solid waste in facilities worldwide. We are printing far more paper documents than we need.

We then dump paper into landfills, it starts to decompose, releasing toxic methane and potentially leeching inks into soil and water sources.

Go paperless with Docuworx

Going paperless is one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to reduce your school carbon footprint, help the planet and increase revenue. However, many schools don’t know where to start.