On an average, an adult uses over 20,000 sheets of all kinds of paper a year and more than 3,000 tons of disposable paper towel waste are produced in India. To produce one ton of paper sheets, 17 trees are cut down and 20,000 gallons of water are used in the process. Paper manufacturing unit is estimated to be the fourth largest industry spanning across the world. As we move further into the digital age, one would think our use of paper would continue to diminish, but alas, that is not the case. Between corporations, schools, postage and even our own personal care usage, we still rely heavily on using paper in all its various forms. So, what can we start doing this Lent to demote the usage of paper?
1. This Lent avoid buying and using tissue papers at all. Cloth napkins, handkerchiefs and so on should be used instead of tissues as alternatives.
2. Moreover, using both the sides of a paper and only so much as required and making optimum use of a single sheet of paper, reduces the amount of paper consumption.
3. Convert all your bills to paperless format, i.e. online receipts and pay them online too. In general digitization is the next logical step that we all need to take.
4. Be frugal about magazine subscriptions, newspapers etc. Many newspapers have online versions and applications.
5. Print, but only if you really require it and on both sides.
With each page, trees from different parts of the world are harmed. The trees, which once provided shade, is now merely a medium of satisfying man’s avoidable greed. Cutting down of trees, drastically decreases the oxygen content in the atmosphere making the surrounding unhealthy for breathing as well as depleting the protective sheaths over the earth’s surface. Demoting paper usage would help us in making a greener and a healthier atmosphere. In this way, we become protectors of this world provided to us by God Almighty. Let us all pledge to demote paper usage and rather incorporate the usage and promotion of digital world.
