Lately the topic of green business, sustainability and the planet’s condition has made its way to the forefront of many conversations. Everybody is trying to do their part to reduce waste and re-use our natural resources. In business this offers more incentive in terms of cutting costs. While in the past companies used resources without considering the impact on our planet, now businesses are taking control of their waste and seeing savings. Here are 5 office supplies businesses don’t need after going paperless.

Paper:
It’s no surprise you won’t need paper when going paperless. Going paperless has become the most popular business strategy in the past couple of years. By virtualizing your files, utilizing cloud storage and file sharing, and digitally presenting new ideas rather than printing extensive notebooks, companies are cutting costs and saving the planet.

In a survey conducted by Lexmark, the average investment to go paperless was $289,512 which returned savings averaging $406,368. The savings are expected to come from office supplies, paper, ink and toner, and less man hours keeping files organized.

Staples and Paperclips:
Part of the savings seen in the survey is from staples and paperclips. Without paper, you don’t need to bind paper together. You never realize how much money is spent on staples and paperclips until you stop buying them. An average of 20 billion paperclips is sold each year. When you go to the supply cabinet at work, look to see how many boxes of paperclips are waiting to be used.

Folders and Binders:
Now that you no longer use paper, you don’t need a place to put them after printing. Folders and binders for offices can get expensive. With the average cost of a 3 ring binder at $.50-$1.50, when purchased in bulk, the cost can reach the thousands very quickly. Many offices are able to see immediate savings simply by eliminating this cost.

Ink and Toner:
Whether you are talking about personal printers or office printers and copiers, ink and toner is expensive. These small cartridges often cost $50-$200 depending on quantity and quality. By eliminating this cost, a company can save thousands each year. Paperless offices are free from ink and toner and loving the savings.

Printer and Copier Maintenance and Repair:
How many times have you tried to copy a document and the copier just stopped working? A few hours later it magically worked again. It wasn’t magic; it was a tech or repairman that fixed the printer, at a price. With printers and copiers being some of the most unreliable pieces of office equipment, maintenance and repair costs are often more than the equipment is worth.

Your average employee consumes $350 worth of office supplies each year. For small businesses of 20 employees, that comes out to $7000 yearly. For large companies of a few hundred employees, that cost can be astronomical. By eliminating the use of office supplies by eliminating the use of paper, you can increase productivity while saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs.