Working on going paperless-

[njtomatoguy]

I have in the past 6 months-

Cancelled Newspaper daily delivery. I do buy the sunday paper.

Put most of my bills on e-pay/autopay, etc. All but one credit card stoppped sending statements.

Got off all catalog lists, and other junk mail that I can control.

Anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Mike Wilson]

Buy fatwood?

-- Mike

 

[Sandor]

I have done the same things as you. Not much more to go, other than to convince others to do the same.

 

[webbie]

For those who have the money and need.......

The Fuji Snapscan ........ This thing EATS your old paper documents and turns them in into PDF at many pages per minute!

 

[drizler]

Somebody must be using the paper someplace. I work at the border and still see the same amount of pulp and paper rolling out of Canada as there ever was. The only thing I do notice is a very distinct lack of trucks themselves. It seems the weak Greenback is cutting the demand for Canadian goods. The good old Economy is sure slowing down somewhere be it for valuation or fuel price reasons. This is the quarter before Christmas when it should be booming.... Lots of wood pellets coming down though.

 

[elkimmeg]

Been using a scanner and paper port for years using paper less is ok as long as ity is being recycled

my wife even uses cloth shopping bags the paper bags recycled paper goes in and the plastic bags are recycled

I hate waste when I can do something about it

 

[Fire Goddess]

No paper towels, napkins, tissues or toilet paper...

 

[drizler]

No paper towels, napkins, tissues or toilet paper...

You go first with that last one. Give it 6 months and report back to us..............................

 

[njtomatoguy]

I hope you have a Bidet-

 

[drizler]

The parents in laws in Germany have one of those. They, like most people use them to rinse off their feet. Pretty useless otherwise these days though, UNLESS, Humm I wonder. NO its all yours................................ go for it.

 

[Fire Goddess]

Not as strange as you think. Just like you can use cloth napkins, you can use cloth tp. I cloth diapered my kids for years so washing cloth tp would not phase me. I've considered it. I'd need to get hubby on board for that one though...

 

[drizler]

Not as strange as you think. Just like you can use cloth napkins, you can use cloth tp. I cloth diapered my kids for years so washing cloth tp would not phase me. I've considered it. I'd need to get hubby on board for that one though...

Seriously though, such ideas really don't make any sense. Those are the scary things that are lofted to the forefront by diehards and looneys. People need to focus on what is important not little trivial things. Stuff like avoiding disposable razors and riding a bicycle in the city during the winter instead of driving just dont' make sense. To save on razors try drying them after use. Simple as it is they last over a month and I have gorilla hair. If you want to see the trash pile up try my suggestion on taking back the plastic. There are only 3 in our family and I fill a pellet bag every week or so stuffed as tight as I can get it. Its beyond amazing how much of that useless packaging you find in multiple layers all for nothing really. I would say an easy 10lbs a week for us which is a lot of plastic. The thing that rankles me most about all the recycling programs here in the US is how backwards they are. Instead of doing like the Europeans have done for decades. They put those plastic domes all over town in groups segregating glass types batteries ect. People just drive or walk by and toss their stuff in the top. A truck with a small cherry picker picks it up over the selected bin and they lift the dome off the sides some and everying falls out. No fuss, no muss and you don't have to attempt to match some governmental schedule ( part time much of the time) and waste all your time doing it. Like I learned in the army, KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. It keeps it manageable too instead of relying on someone looking over your shoulder like it usually is. No $200K special trucks to buy either. They always have to reinvent the wheel.
Back to the paper. Anyone who has ever been in the Army living in the field knows that the measure of a true friend is the guy who shares that almost finished roll he has tucked away in his pack. I will file that one under the heading of the disposable razors. Gotta work smarter rather than harder, I keep getting older every day.

 

[slowzuki]

I suspect washing a cloth after wiping your butt uses somewhere around 10x the energy of 4 squares of tp, but it might be higher.

 

[Eric Johnson]

I hope people will seriously consider the consequences of their actions. While I hate waste as much as the next guy, it pays to bear in mind that paper is a renewable resource, made from a renewable resource that locks up carbon as it grows, and keeps it locked up when it's turned into things like paper or framing lumber or wood-based composits. Given the choice over paper or plastic in the grocery store, I'll take paper every time, even though it takes a lot less energy to make the plastic bag. The paper probably came from from trees grown in the United States and was made in a U.S. mill that employs people like your neighbors. Plastic comes from imported natural gas and oil, as I understand it. And paper is biodegradable. When people say "save a tree," I say, "and starve a logger." It's a biased viewpoint, I know, but I like to think it's rooted in concern for the environment and the national economy.

Conserving resources is always a good idea, but don't make the mistake of equating our plastic waste problem with paper. They're two completely different animals.

 

[Fire Goddess]

Pook, lol :lol:

I didn't mean to get people's knickers in a twist :bug: ...I was simply adding to the conversation. The OP asked for suggestions on cutting back on paper, so I gave some.

Actually, the energy involved in washing 'wipes' as opposed to flushing them away is similar to the arguement about why washing cloth diapers IS better than throwing away disposeables. BUT that was not the issue. You can save paper by using cloth napkins, rags instead of paper towels and cloth tp instead of paper.

Driz, I don't judge other's ideas as looney...I say whatever you choose to do to save the environment, to whatever extent you are comfortable doing so is better than doing nothing at all.

 

[jebatty]

Paper received in the mail often is blank on the back side. I cut these into 4's for note paper; also use blank side for printing of things I really want to keep. Much of stuff I find on the web I print/save to pdf computer file for future reference rather than printing to paper. I also stopped Sunday paper. Liked that most for ads and coupons, but if I don't get those I also spend less, especially on things I want but don't need. Good to get out of habit of buying or being stimulated to buy. Last, use a cloth shopping bag and stop getting plastic/paper from the store. We get plastic/paper only when we need a few for other trash. No reason to buy trash bags. When buy things and don't need any bag, don't accept one. Things already are packaged; why put a package in a package? Thanks for stimulating this discussion.

 

[wahoowad]

Would wiping your butt with used newspaper be a decent compromise? I know it works.

 

[jebatty]

Would wiping your butt with used newspaper be a decent compromise? I know it works.

That's a start -- it looks like you really understand how messy things are coming to be!

 

[pegdot]

Try this......take a single square of toilet paper, fold it in half, fold it in half again. Now tear a small hole in the tip of the folded center and insert your index finger through it. Wipe you butt with that finger and use the toilet paper to clean your finger as you pull the TP off. ROFL! Sorry, but my dad swore that's how they did it in the army during WWII. :cheese:

 

[Eric Johnson]

This thread is going down the toilet in a hurry!

Toilet paper is a Western Civilization invention, I think. Vast parts of the world still get by with water and a good scrubbing which, among other things, eliminates the likelihood of skid marks (sorry). That's an important detail when you consider that much of the clotheswashing is done by hand, and who wants the extra scrutiny?

When U.S. troops first began to occupy Iraq, I heard somewhere that the toilet paper used by the troops overwhelmed the (already fragile) sewer systems. Apparently they weren't designed to handle the paper load.

Heck, there's whole websites devoted to toilet trivia.