Complete Story
05/06/2026
Going Paperless Isn’t Always Greener
Source: TwoSides North America, January 2026
Do You Know the Facts About Paper and Electronic Communication?
We often hear that going paperless is the greener choice—but not all of those claims are grounded in science. Let’s sort through the most common myths and uncover the real facts about paper, digital communication, energy use, waste, and what sustainability really looks like in a circular economy.
Paper’s Role in a Circular Economy
As global demand for resources continues to grow, a sustainable future will depend on products with a circular life cycle, that is, highly recycled products that are made with renewable raw materials and energy.
Paper is well-positioned for the circular economy given its unique sustainable characteristics. So why are many companies, government agencies and media organizations encouraging us to “go green” by switching from paper to electronic communications? Clearly, these appeals to help the environment by eliminating paper-based communication are driven by the desire to cut costs, misguided marketing
strategies, or both – not on sound science.
Paper and Digital Communication: A Sustainability Comparison
Paper is made with a renewable natural resource – trees that are purpose-grown, harvested and re-grown in sustainably managed forests. It is produced using mostly renewable, carbon-neutral bioenergy in a process that uses a lot of water but actually consumes very little of it. And paper is recycled more than any other material in the U.S. and Canada municipal waste stream.
In contrast, electronic communication requires environmentally invasive drilling and mining for the finite raw materials needed to manufacture electronic devices and the massive server farms that support them. These devices and server farms are powered mostly by fossil fuel energy, and very few smartphones, tablets, laptops and computers get recycled.
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