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Nowadays, paper consumption is still very high in the workplace, despite the obvious damage to the environment caused by the production of this material and its mass consumption. Fortunately, document automation technology is helping to reduce paper consumption by offering cloud-based software to professionals in all types of industries. Paper is necessary for many professions, but reducing its use not only helps the planet but also brings benefits to companies.
The production of paper, its transport, commercialisation, consumption and waste disposal are a burden on the environment. Not only from a pollution point of view: the consumption of raw materials in the whole life cycle of paper is very high. So much that 93% of the paper created in the world comes from new trees and not from recycled material. Not to mention that it takes two litres of water to produce a single sheet of paper.
After this process, one of the main purposes of paper is its use in the workplace. Its usage is widespread in all sectors, but perhaps it is necessary to stop and think about the numbers consumed each year to understand why this consumption should be eliminated.
One of the departments that requires the most paper is the legal department. On average, a lawyer uses around 17,000 sheets of A4 paper every year. This number of sheets adds up to a weight of 83.5 kgs and, if all the sheets were stacked, they would reach the average height of a man.
137,000 lawyers in Spain: 11,439 tonnes of paper consumed in one year
2,329,000,000 sheets of A4 paper are consumed by the 137,000 Spanish lawyers every year. The sum results in the expenditure of 11,439 tons of paper sheets which, stacked together, would create a 30-kilometre-high paper tower that would reach the stratosphere.
Alejandro Esteve de Miguel, CEO of Bigle Legal, explains that "we lawyers have assumed that the printer is one of our indispensable tools for the legal profession." "And the only way to save the environment would be to apply the 'think before you print'. This is over. Technology, such as document automation, has provided a way to not only reduce paper consumption but to eliminate it once and for all."
The price of paper is not the only cost that companies save when they reduce their use of paper. The costs associated with transporting paper, the office supplies that go with it, ink, printers and their maintenance, as well as the management of the waste that is generated, is the real expense for businesses, adding up to a bill that could be avoided. Gartner estimates that 50% of corporate waste consists of paper. Eliminating its consumption means eliminating these unnecessary costs.
Document automation as a path to a sustainable future
Thanks to document automation technology, paper consumption for contracts and traditional documents is not only reduced but also completely eliminated. In addition to all its benefits, this legal tech solution provides a very significant cost reduction for all company types, such as the costs derived from paper consumption. A win-win agreement that benefits both the environment and business, ensuring a more sustainable future for the planet.
Document automation frees up workers' time and ensures that they can focus on tasks that add value to their jobs, guaranteeing the accuracy of the documents created and reducing human errors. It improves the production and efficiency of companies while standardising a company's documents.
Our new ebook, "Together Towards a Paperless Work Environment", looks at how document automation technology is helping organisations to eliminate paper consumption.
Download it to learn about new ways of working and new paperless green trends - help the environment and be rewarded for it!
