This year marks the 40th anniversary of EarthDay,
celebrating and raising awareness of our natural surroundings and
theimportance of sustainability. Wonderinghow to celebrate this
popular, nationally-observed
day? One way you can, on Earth Day and any otherday, is to use
electronic billing.
Put simply, SmartPay is a green choice because it savespaper.
However, there is more to thissimple fact than appears at the
surface. Let's consider everything that goes into the process of
traditional,paper-ridden billing and payment.
As we learn from a young age, paper comes from trees. Yetover
70% of the trees used to make paper are not trees grown in tree
farms forthat purpose [1]. Instead, these trees are
forest-harvested,chopped down from their natural ecological and
biological habitats. In turn,these trees take away the health of
the environment, as well as for otherplants and animals. The
papermanufacturing industry is also the third-largest user of
fossil fuels aroundthe world [2] and is the single largest industry
in its amount of water consumption [3].
Emissions from vehicles also must factor into this
equation,since vehicles are used to transport the original paper
itself, as well asbills and invoices. As the end user notonly
receives their bill or invoice online but also pays online,
vehicleemissions are further reduced because a run to the post
office, bank, or bothis cut out from the process.
With Americans using over 85 million tons of paper per year
[4],the impact on the environment proves to be a substantial
one.
And all of this is simply skimming the surface; that's notto
consider other elements of traditional billing, such as the number
ofresources needed for ink for the invoices and bills, nor the
paper used forenvelopes. A change in the way you doyour billing and
payment means a change in the amount of paper used anddemanded
yearly, which means a change in the state of the overall
environment.
On this Earth Day, choose to celebrate by considering achange in
your daily lifestyle. Chooseelectronic billing and payment. The
environment will thank you.
[1]Source: Toward a Sustainable Paper Cycle: AnIndependent
Study on the Sustainability of the Pulp and Paper Industry
[2]Source: American Forest and Paper Association
[3]Source: OECDEnvironmental Outlook
[4]Source: www.recycling-revolution.com