Have you ever thought about the amount of paper your business generates in a year or a month or even a day? Your company might, almost literally, be swimming in paper between files, invoices and snail mail. There are ways, though, that you can decrease your paper usage and do your part toward helping the environment. Read on to learn about some of them.

Pay Your Bills Online

Whether you're dealing with suppliers, utilities or business insurance Washington state, set things up so that you can pay your bills online. Request invoices and bills to be sent to your email instead of through regular mail. Then you can arrange to make payments through direct withdrawal or manually through an online billing portal for each company. If you choose to do this, save all email invoices in separate folders for each supplier or company. You should also pay close attention to your bank and credit card accounts to make sure payments go through smoothly and on time.

Convert Your Files

You can also cut back on your paper usage by converting your files to digital. Begin with the new documents you're creating right now. Save them as PDF files, and store them securely. Be sure that your files and folders remain organized so that you can find everything easily, and add levels of security through passwords and encryption if necessary. After you've made the transition with your current documents, you can work backwards with your older paper files. Working systematically, scan each document, and place it logically into your digital file system. Back up all your digital files, and then shred your paper copies (but only after you've made sure that the digital copies are not corrupt and have been properly backed up).

Use Digital Invoicing

If your customers approve, you might save on paper by switching to digital invoicing. Ask your customers first, though, and honor the preferences of those who still prefer paper billing. For everyone else, send invoices by email, and provide convenient and secure payment options right online. There are several digital invoicing tools that allow you to create invoices from templates and send them directly to customers. You'll save on paper, and your customers will save on time.

Switch to Email Communications

In fact, you might consider switching as much as possible to email communications on all levels. Along with invoices, you can send emails to your customers with payment reminders, special offers and even newsletters. Shift to email communication with your suppliers as well, and even work toward digital communications within your office. In-office memos don't need to be paper any more. Emails and texts actually work better more often than not.

Minimize Printing

Save paper in your office by minimizing printing. Some of your employees (and maybe even you) might be in the habit of running off paper copies of just about everything. Discourage this. Remind people (and yourself) that all files are securely stored within your office system and are accessible at all times. You could also provide secure access if your employees want to or must work from home. There is usually no reason to make a paper copy of most documents. You might want to put up signs near (or on) your printers reminding employees to think before they print and, if they really must print something, to print on both sides of the paper.

Recycle

Finally, save paper by recycling paper. For whatever you must have a paper copy of in your office, purchase recycled paper. You can probably buy it right through your regular supplier for a comparable price to the paper you already use, and you'll feel good about saving trees. Also, make sure recycling bins are prominent in your office, and encourage your employees to use them. Shred anything that is confidential, of course, but then recycle that as well.

If you follow some of these tips, you might just find that your business' level of paper consumption drops significantly.