How close are you to a paper-free life?

In honour of Go Green Week, we've handed the climate blog over to colleagues to share what they are doing in their own lives to make a difference.

Helen Leach closes Go Green Week with a final post on  how to strive for a paperless office...

The concept of the paperless office has been around for decades. All around us our day to day activities are becoming electronic, such as having an Oyster Card to travel round the London Underground instead of a paper ticket, but we office-based folk seem to be clinging on to printing like an inky limpet!

There’s no denying that going paperless at work is hard but we are all capable of making it happen. Think to yourself as you hover over the print button ‘how can I change my working habits to save this piece of paper?’

Following some serious thought in my ‘clear-minded’ yoga class last night and some research there are some pretty neat ways you can achieve this!

• Yes the ‘Think Before You Print’ logo has been around a while but refocus on it – seriously, do you really need to print that?
• Many of us have smartphones – use these for taking meeting notes
• Get electronic versions of local papers when doing media reviews
• Use a cloud service such as Dropbox to save, access and share documents wherever you are – you wouldn’t even need to email yourself files anymore and that unsightly filing cabinet could be replaced by that yucca plant you’ve always wanted!
• Get suppliers to invoice you electronically
• Let your contacts know you’ve gone paperless and get them to send you electronic versions of documents

Of course there will always be those times when you will have to turn to printing but to help clear your conscience there is a certain tree symbol you can look out for when buying paper and wood-based products – that of the Forest Stewardship Council, FSC.

To check for FSC approved products you can go onto their website and check their database and if you’re still not sure just ask the supplier before you buy.

When you see the tree you can be certain that the paper you have bought has come from a responsibly managed forest that has benefited local people and wildlife.

Some great tips from Helen there. Do share your own tips for ensuring you only print what you really have to.