How to Reduce Paper and Accelerate Your Firm’s Green Initiative

In today’s increasingly eco-conscious world, businesses are stepping up their efforts to "go green" and cut down on paper consumption. From reducing environmental impacts to improving operational efficiency, embracing paperless practices is becoming a key part of a company's social, financial, and environmental responsibility. However, while technology has progressed in many industries, records management often remains stuck in the past.

It’s estimated that more than 5 billion boxes of records are stored in facilities worldwide, with millions more kept in-house. Beyond the environmental costs of using paper — like deforestation — organizations face significant financial and energy burdens when managing and processing paper records.

The Hidden Costs of Paper-Based Records

Relying on paper for storing information comes with more than just the price of printing. Businesses regularly spend millions of dollars on:

• Printing physical documents
• Shipping records to and from storage facilities
• Climate control systems to preserve documents

• Secure destruction of outdated records

As paper consumption continues, the environmental toll grows. But by adopting document digitization and advanced technologies, organizations can vastly reduce their reliance on paper while streamlining operations.

The Status Quo: Why Paper Still Dominates

Despite the growing push to go paperless, many organizations remain hesitant to switch. The sheer scale of the task—scanning, indexing, categorizing thousands of boxes of records, implementing a digital records management system (RMS), and training staff—can be overwhelming.

However, modern solutions like robotics and automation are transforming the digitization process, making it faster, more accurate, and less labor-intensive:

• Digital conversion is managed by robots, minimizing human error
• Machine learning quickly indexes and auto-classifies records
• Optical and intelligent character recognition (OCR/ICR) makes documents easily searchable

These technologies make it easier for businesses to ditch paper and embrace a more efficient and eco-friendly way of managing information.

Energy Expenditure: Keeping Paper "Comfortable"

Paper is highly sensitive to its environment. Without climate control, records can deteriorate due to humidity or mold. Warehouses housing physical documents need to be climate-controlled 24/7, which drives up energy consumption and costs. The average company spends 15% of its warehouse operating budget on energy alone, a significant portion of which goes toward preserving paper.

Natural disasters present additional risks to paper-based records. In cases of flooding, fire, or other events, warehouses and their contents are vulnerable to damage. While traditional records management companies may attempt to salvage paper using energy-intensive methods (such as freezing records or increasing air circulation), these solutions are costly and often ineffective. By comparison, digitized records stored in the cloud are immune to environmental threats and can be accessed instantly from anywhere.

The Environmental Impact of Transporting Records

With most physical records stored off-site to save space, transporting files back and forth becomes a routine yet costly process. Moving documents often requires trucks, planes, or trains, leading to increased greenhouse gas emissions and wasted time.

This problem is especially prevalent in industries like law, where accessing archived case files is critical. For every trip to retrieve a document, firms incur additional costs, delay workflows, and contribute to environmental degradation.

Moreover, sharing paper files is inefficient. If multiple parties (such as associates or co-counsel) need to review a record, paper documents must be copied and manually distributed, further extending the time needed to complete tasks.

Excessive Paper Use in Law Firms

Law firms are one of the biggest consumers of paper. As noted in this article, the American Bar Association states that the average lawyer uses between 20,000 and 100,000 sheets of paper annually. Each sheet of paper — through its production, usage, and disposal — emits nearly nine times its weight in greenhouse gases.

Much of this paper usage is avoidable. Simple tasks like reprinting documents to correct minor typos may seem insignificant but, when multiplied across an entire firm, the environmental and financial impact becomes substantial.

Efforts to reduce paper usage, such as double-sided printing, while well-meaning, barely scratch the surface of the problem. A more effective solution is to eliminate printing altogether by adopting a digital records management system (RMS), which allows documents to be uploaded and shared electronically, bypassing paper entirely.

Why Going Digital is the Green Choice

If your organization is serious about reducing paper waste and "going green," digitization is the clear path forward. Transitioning to a digital RMS offers a host of environmental and operational benefits:

• Once records are scanned, they no longer need to be physically transported
• Eliminates the need for expensive, energy-consuming climate-controlled warehouses
• Provides instant access to records from anywhere, reducing downtime and improving collaboration
• Reclaims office space previously dedicated to storing files, making room for more productive uses

For companies that rely on off-site storage, going paperless can also lead to substantial rent savings, particularly in high-cost areas.

Once a digital records management system is in place and the volume of paper is reduced, maintaining a paperless environment becomes easier. Regular scanning and shredding of new documents no longer feels like an overwhelming task but rather a seamless part of daily operations.

Accelerate Your Firm’s Green Initiative

Embracing digital records management is one of the most effective ways to reduce your environmental impact while improving your firm's efficiency and bottom line. By digitizing records, your organization can not only cut down on paper waste but also eliminate unnecessary transportation, reduce energy consumption, and streamline workflows.

Ready to take your green initiative to the next level? Contact us today to learn how our digitization solutions can help you achieve a paperless, more sustainable future.