Going Paperless: Environmental Benefits of Virtual Mailbox Solutions

The hardest projects to execute seem to be group projects. They require the effort of so many people. Hard as they may be, it is possible to achieve success with such projects. This is provided everyone gets onboard and buys into the vision of the project.

Perhaps the greatest project on our hands as a global community is combating the several adverse effects of climate change. This requires significantly reducing global warming’s rate by significantly reducing our carbon footprints.

Doing this offers benefits including the maintenance of biodiversity and the improvement of public health through cleaner air, food, and water. Better use of virtual mail services instead of paper mail options is one of the many ways we can all contribute to reducing carbon emissions. This article will shed more light on the environmental benefits of virtual mailbox services.

Greener Mail Solutions: Reducing Carbon Footprint through Virtual Mailboxes

Greener planet initiatives have helped us come to terms with how our actions affect the planet. As it pertains to paper mail, you should know that close to 30 grams of carbon is emitted (directly or indirectly) for every posted paper mail.

Going by this calculation, the implication is that the use of virtual mailbox services significantly reduces how much carbon our dear planet will be exposed to. For further emphasis, below is how virtual mailbox services contribute to environmental sustainability:

Reduces the Need for Paper

Virtual mailbox services reduce the need for paper without compromising on purpose. The meaning is that you achieve the same aim as you would with paper mail. However, this option does a lot of good for the environment. How is this?

You see, paper is made from various materials and under specific conditions. Speaking of the materials used to make them, quite a lot of them (over 90 percent) come from wood.

This means that the need to supply the industry that makes this product available, directly or indirectly, causes deforestation. For the record, deforestation is the massive removal of forests for reasons such as urbanization, industrialization, and even for agriculture.

The problem is that deforestation is not an environmentally sustainable practice. This is given how it causes short and (especially) long-term damage to the environment including:

• Disruption of wildlife and biodiversity at large
• Disrupted rainfall pattern – This is as a result of less transpiration activities
• Increased flooding
• Global warming – Carbon has indirect yet adverse effects on the ozone layer. Trees make less carbon available in the atmosphere by absorbing them and releasing oxygen. Deforestation causes the harmful release of adsorbed The indirect yet adverse effect on the ozone layer causes climate change
• Loss of forestry’s benefits – A prime example is the unavailability or scarcity of herbal remedies
• Soil erosion

So, people contribute to all of the aforementioned environmental havoc with every paper that they use. This is especially true when there are alternatives such as using the services of virtual mailbox companies. For more on this subject, you can visit: https://community.aiim.org/.

Waste Reduction

Many landfills in the country and beyond are stretched to their limits. This means that they have or are fast reaching their capacity. This is despite recycling initiatives in the country and beyond. In light of this, the question of the kinds of wastes that have our landfills quickly filled up needs to be asked.

Surprisingly or not, paper is high on the list. A source even gathered that it makes up a little over a quarter of landfill waste. Against this backdrop, measures to reduce its usage will ultimately impact landfills in a good way.

Document Management

Some mail needs to be kept for safekeeping. This could be for record purposes. In the case of paper mail, this means that such would take up space. There could be a storage crisis because of limited space or the lack of it.

Well, you are not likely to have this problem with virtual mailbox services. The endless storage possibilities that data cloud storage offers are an example of why this is not likely to be a problem.

Transport Emission

Physical delivery of mail means that physical transportation is required. More often than not, the means of transportation increase the amount of carbon footprint that we all have to deal with.

Minimizing Paper Waste with Virtual Mailbox Communication

Given how paper usage is not an eco-friendly practice; can its usage be abruptly stopped? Well, maybe in the long term. However, we can significantly reduce the need for it even in the short term. This is provided society embraces paperless options such as the use of virtual mailbox services. Some of the ways to go about this would include:

Prioritizing Digital Communication

Paperless means of communication should be prioritized in situations where and when it is an option. For one, this is in the bid to support environmentally sustainable practices. Furthermore, it is about the ease of using paperless means of communication such as the use of virtual mailbox services.

Document Scanning

The possibility of scanning documents should be better explored. This is rather than shipping physical documents or even making duplicate copies of physical documents.

This is because document scanning is a more environmentally sustainable practice than shipping physical documents or making duplicate copies of physical documents. You can read this article for more information on why document scanning is an environmentally sustainable practice.

Paperless Statements & Billings

Traditionally, statements and billings are presented in paper formats. But as things stand, utility service providers and businesses at large are beginning to embrace paperless statements and billings.

However, more still needs to be done to fully switch to paperless communication in this regard. This is not only on the part of these service providers but their clients as well. For example, clients can subscribe to getting paperless billing and statements and unsubscribe from paper statements and billings.

On a Final Note

Going paperless has positive environmental impacts. As a result, it should be explored better in the environment’s best interest. Furthermore, there are other benefits besides its being environmentally sustainable.

For example, it turns out to be very convenient. As a result of all its benefits, particularly its being an eco-friendly approach, paperless means of communication such as virtual mailbox services should be better engaged.