Less paper?

In prehistoric times 60% of the Earth’s land surface was covered by forests; today that is down to 30% and still shrinking.

A million pages not printed saves 85 pulp-producing trees.

Producing a ton of paper takes roughly 1,400 liters of oil.

Americans use so much paper in a year that you could build a paper wall 3.6 meters high from New York to California.

(source: http://www.lisashea.com/lisabase/aboutme/paperusage.html)))

The truth is that paper use has gone up as a result of the use of IT.

We’re going to explore this subject in the coming posts, but to start, let’s see what happens with a modernization project implemented in Chile.

Electronic invoicing and paper use

In Chile we have electronic invoicing. Despite the advantages of this system, we don’t really know the impact on paper use that this novel technological instrument has had.

Getting copies of an electronic invoice is easier now, so it may well be that lots of unnecessary copies of these documents are being printed.

What’s more, since the system lets you skip the stamping of documents, companies can issue more invoices (paper) than before, and more easily. The cost of an invoice really has gone down, because you no longer need the print shop, or the paperwork at the Servicio de Impuestos Internos, the tax agency.

Utility bills are electronic invoices, and they can reach you by email. If a utility offers to send you the invoice or receipt by email, take advantage of it: it’s easier to store and organize, and you have no reason to print it. There are people who print the bill in order to go and pay it; it’s better to use electronic payment, or pay at the ATM.

But our legislators insist on increasing paper consumption. It turns out that Law 19.983 gives invoices the status of an enforceable instrument, and with that it introduces an additional copy that has to be signed by the recipient. That way, with this “signed receipt”, it is possible to demand payment of the invoice (the invoice can be protested, for example).

The law provides for an electronic version of this copy, which requires an electronic signature, of course. All of this is regulated by the Servicio de Impuestos Internos.

However, I know of cases where companies, despite having electronic invoicing systems, prefer to print the invoices, send them physically to their creditors, ask them to sign the additional copy (as a receipt), and file the copy away.

The electronic transfer mechanism is well defined, but it’s likely that not every electronic invoicing product has been adapted to the new law, or some companies simply haven’t made the investment to bring their systems in line with the new rules.

Printing is easier.

Since I’m interested in my youngest daughter getting to know forests, I ask you to think about this, and not to print this page.