Helping the Planet, One Sheet of Paper at a Time
The manufacture and use of paper has significant negative effects on our planet. Pulp and paper is the third-largest air, water, and land polluter among all industries, releasing over 100 million kilograms of toxic pollution every year. An estimated 18 million acres of forest are lost each year to paper production -- the equivalent of 20 football fields every minute
Recognizing this, HAVI's global Finance department has taken steps over the last few years to reduce the amount of paper we use through two key initiatives.
Cut-the-Carbs Printing Reduction Initiative
In 2018 and 2019, our Finance department introduced the Cut-the-Carbs Printing Reduction Initiative. It aimed to reduce the amount of paper HAVI used by 20% with the implementation of a few key behaviors such as reducing the number of printers in the office, using key words like "Digital" to encourage the mindset of think before print, placing boards next to the printers with our monthly usage and using double-sided printing as a default.
These tactics enabled Finance to reduce the amount of printer paper used globally by a total of 41% after one year of the program, well exceeding the goal of paper reduction with this program.
“We were trying to become more green and eliminate the use of paper wherever possible while also establishing internal processes that promoted a digital workflow to enhance the user experience,” said Steve Thate, Sr. Vice President of Finance. “The entire Finance team rallied around this endeavor and really embraced the concepts. The results they achieved and in the timeframe they achieved them were much better than I would have imagined when we embarked on Cut-the-Carbs initiative. This was very fortunate because little did we know that the pandemic would accelerate the need for the digital workflow. The manual paper processes would have potentially impaired our ability to function effectively in 2020.”
Concur Expense Reporting Tool
Historically, HAVI has used paper when it comes to reporting our expenses internally. Building upon the success of the Cut-the-Carbs Printing Initiative from 2019, the Finance department committed to more paper reduction with the implementation of the Concur Expense Reporting tool, which we now use to document travel and other expenses.
Submitting our expenses online has now saved more than 5,000 sheets of paper since 2020, a time of minimal travel. In 2019, 4,637 expense reports were processed globally with an estimated amount of 27,822 sheets. When travel becomes regular for HAVI employees again, we can expect to be saving around this many sheets of paper annually.
As a company who believes in sustainability, we're pleased the the improvements made through these initiatives.
Read more about the impact of paper on the environment: