While recycling paper is good, it is much better not to print the paper in the first place. To help reduce the amounts of energy, water, and trees that are consumed to create paper, check out the following resources to help you go paperless. There is a lot that you can do to help, such as stopping junk mail and catalogs, going digital for your reading needs, and so much more. For more tips, check out 6 Reasons to Go Paperless from Pretty Simple Days.
ACI Paperless Billing in CVSan
Drop those paper bills and go online with Alameda County Industries (ACI)! Get your ACI recycling, organics and garbage bill online. For every customer that chooses paperless for their ACI billing from now until June 30, 2029, ACI will plant a tree. Trees will be planted monthly in the ACI forest via Tree-Nation, an organization whose mission is to help citizens and companies offset their carbon emissions. For more information, visit ACI’s website.
Alameda County Library Resources
The Alameda County Library offers a number of free items to read online such as magazines, eBooks and eNews. You can obtain all of these and more by signing up for a Library eCard,.
Get it Digital
For any subscriptions that you have, opt for the online instead of the printed version. You can save paper and space by saving old documents to PDF files. Genius Scan can help you get organized by scanning old documents right from your phone. Dropbox and Google Drive can help you store large documents on the cloud. If you are shredding your paper documents after digitizing them, remember to put the shredded paper in your organics cart.
Make To-Do Lists Online
To-Do Lists are great for staying organized and there are many apps for that to choose from now. Read more about the best to-do list apps.
Opt-Out of Phone Book and Direct Mail
You can opt-out of receiving the yellow pages, white pages and other phone books. You can also put your name and address on the National Do Not Mail List.
Pay Bills Online
Change your mailbox experience at home and pay your bills online instead! Banks, credit cards, and many other services that you receive monthly bills for can be paid online without a paper statement. You can even schedule the payment to occur automatically. Just remember to cancel the paper bill once you set up for online billing.
Say No Thank You to Printed Receipts
The plastic-coated paper that receipts are printed on is problematic. The paper is not compostable or recyclable, and is coated with BPA, a chemical that is harmful to our health and the environment. When offered the opportunity, have the receipt sent to you via email or say no thank you to receipts altogether.
Send eCards
Send an eCard for those special occasions and to that special someone. Card companies Hallmark, American Greetings, and Smilebox have many options for any occasion.
Stop Junk Mail
Are you looking to stop all of that junk mail that clogs up your mailbox and goes right into the recycling bin? Then opt to stop junk mail with the Bay Area Recycling Outreach Coalition. There are many tips on how to reduce unwanted mail, as well as links to other organizations that can help with junk contacts from catalogs, emails, and faxes as well. Another great website for paper waste reduction information is Catalog Choice.
Use an eSignature Tool
Using an e-signature can save paper and time. Check out this helpful PC Magazine article on signing Adobe PDF documents with an e-signature.
Use Your Tablet or Cell Phone to Take Notes
Don’t worry about bringing a pad and a pen, use your phone or tablet device for note taking instead! Notes can be taken faster, read more easily later, and filed for reference.
Flyers
When at a parent club meeting, sporting event, conference, or community activity, pass on taking a paper flyer or leaflet, and take a photo using your phone or device instead. It will never get lost and it’s one less thing to recycle or compost. Speak up and ask the committee leader or organizer to change their practices so that it becomes the norm instead of the exception.
The Document Center provides easy access to public documents. Click on one of the categories below to see related documents or use the search function.
(510) 537-0757