Please Cease and Desist With The Greenwashing

So in response to my blogpost yesterday I received a cease and desist e-mail from the company I mentioned in it. I guess I must have made a point or two. So the good news is that people are reading my blog. But after thinking about it, I decided to drop all reference to that company's name from my blogpost. What I say about the misuse of the facts about paper, trees and the environment can be said about many companies who are confused about the information relating to the paper industry, why should I single out just one.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Here is the edited blogpost without the names of any company referenced.

I saw a tweet come across my Tweetdeck and felt compelled to respond to it. Here is what it said:

"Going #paperless or at least reducing #paper is our goal. We aim to help in doing what we can as retailers. Going #green always feels good."

I checked out the company. They sell a software program for retailers.The premise is that retailers who purchase and install this program of emailing receipts to customers, (instead of handing one to you with your purchase), will instantly save time, money and, it implies, the environment.

This company believes that the software program will save money for business owners instantly by reducing their paper costs by a 3:1 ratio. Apparently paper costs have increased so much it is causing retailers to raise prices and shrink their profit margins. When did providing a receipt to customers who make a purchase from you become an extra, not a given?

If I follow along with the idea that a receipt is not a necessity, then I also have to accept that the costs involved in printing out that receipt for my records, are now my responsibility. But my printer takes 8.5 x 11 sized paper---a cash register receipt is usually a small strip of 3 x (however many items you purchase) sized lightweight piece of paper. Which of these options ultimately then creates less waste?

The company video is well produced and hits all the heartstrings. It encourages businesses to do their part for the environment. It implies that by not using paper you are impacting the world in a good way for yourself, your children and your children's children. That's great stuff. If only it were true.

If we stop using paper, there may not be any environment left for our children's children. No paper use equals no new tree plantings; which in turn means no oxygen, no carbon sequestration, no wildlife habitats from those trees. If we stop using paper, our children's children may not even have forests, instead they will see endless strip malls and developments. http://www.internationalpaper.com/apps/gopaper/index.html

I do understand that this company wants to sell product. Just like we want to sell paper. But let's make sure we don't mistake greenwashing, for facts. The paper industry is sustainable and renewable. Using paper is not a bad thing, nor is being smart about times not to use it. The truth is that banks save money when they don't have to mail us our statements, phone companies save money when they don't have to print and mail our bills, and bottom line...stores save money when they don't have to print our receipts.

So let's just quit with the greenwashing. From my point of view, a more valid point for this company to make to a consumer like me, is that it is more convenient to not have to store and hang onto that receipt after a purchase, especially if it is an item you think you will not need to return. I can relate to that.

I believe in being sustainable. I believe in recycling. I believe in using recycled paper. But I also believe in the facts. No one is going to convince me that e-mailing a receipt to someone (who will more likely still print that receipt) is "greener" than having the store hand you one. And what about the negative environmental impact or the costs involved in maintaining all those servers which store the receipt data? Not to mention they get your e-mail address.

Seems backwards to me. I would stop frequenting a store that put the burden on me, the customer to print my own receipt at home. But then, I am also offended when any company asks me to go paperless to "save trees".

I sell paper. My husband works for the United States Postal Service.
You are barking up the wrong tree.

Did You Know...Our Standard Paper Size Was Made Official By Reagan?

Why is the standard paper size in the U.S. 8 ½" x 11"?


Back in the late 1600's, the Dutch invented the two-sheet mold. The average maximum stretch of an experienced vatman's arms was 44". Many molds at that time were around 17" front to back because the laid lines and watermarks had to run from left to right. Sounds big?...well to maximize the efficiency of paper making, a sheet this big was made, and then quartered, forming four 8.5" x 11" pieces.

This was well before paper machines dominated hand made paper labor. A couple centuries later when machines dominated the trade (although many hand made paper makers still existed), and the United States decided on a standard paper size, they stuck with the same size so as to keep the hand made paper makers in business.

Oddly enough, the United States used two different sizes - the 8" x 10.5" and the 8.5" x 11". Separate committees came up with separate standards, the 8" x 10.5" for the government and the 8.5" x 11" for the rest of us. Once these committees found out about each other a couple years later, they agreed to disagree until the early 1980's when Reagan finally proclaimed that the 8.5" x 11" was the official standard sized paper.

Read full article here: http://www.afandpa.org/paper.aspx?id=511