One of our key missions when we formed toggle, was to try and operate a paper free office. We spent alot of time researching tools that would help us to do this. So how are we getting on?

The main downfalls

Banking

As you all know, when you open a bank account you have forms to sign, you get posted pin codes, terms and conditions for banking, welcome packs, banking cards, cheque books, paying in books, login details for online banking, further reading for services you may need in the future, paperwork to close your old account – and all this information arrives in paper envelopes! About 3 months ago we decided to move bank accounts. Wading through old paperwork and replacing it with the new, really made us realise just how much waste paper banking generates.

Inland Revenue

We regularly receive information from the Inland Revenue (a copy of the same information is also sent to our accountant) about VAT , pay etc which usually comes in the form of an A4 envelope with a letter and a CD in a cardboard sleeve.

The need to get creative

Sometimes you just need to work on paper.

When given a brief I like to sketch. My head is full of ideas and I need to get them down visually and as quickly as possible. I find this much easier than jumping straight on the computer because it’s easy to get caught up with details rather than idea generation.

Useful tools and services

CD recycling

London Recycling service operate free CD and DVD recycling. All you have to do is post your box of CD’s and they do the rest,

“The CD material is delivered to the decollaion centre where the constituent parts are separated. Paper is baled, pulped and used in the production of cardboard. The jewel case is granulated and then fed into an extrusion system fitted with a laser filter for contaminant removal. A high quality Crystal Polystyrene pellet is produced and may be used for new cases or insulating foam. The discs are processed in another machine and paint, aluminium and data is removed from the surface. This is used to insulate electric cables.The clean discs are granulated, blended and compounded into a polycarbonate material. This is reused to make burgular alarm boxes or street lighting.”

Google Docs

We make full use of Gmail, Google Docs and the Google Calendars on a daily basis. The great thing about the apps is the collaboration; sharing not only between ourselves but with our clients too. Clients can just paste their content into a Google Doc which saves sending it on CD.

PDFs

Generating PDF rather than paper proposals and invoices wherever possible.

Not getting company stationery printed

We decided very early on not to get company stationery (letterheads and compliment slips) printed. One of the main reasons for this was that we were going to try and make use of as many digital services as possible to save on paper. There were also budget reasons – to get even simple stationery printed would have taken a large chunk out of our budget as there are minimum sheet orders.

Instead we bought some good quality paper and just print them as and when we need them. We will be moving offices in a few weeks (more details coming soon) and we are very glad we didn’t get them printed because we have sent less than 20 letters in 18 months of business.

Moo minicards

Moo minicards are only 70mm x 28mm compared to the standard business card size of 80mm x 55m. Using minicards instead of standard business cards means we are using half the amount of materials per business card. Why are business cards so big!?!

Dropbox

Dropbox is a tool that enables you to sync and large files across the internet and computers. Dropbox has proved an invalauble tool here because it means we can share large files (like video) with our clients without the use of CD’s and DVD’s.

Reuse

Reusing old printouts for sketching on.

Conclusion

Anyone who claims to be paper free probably isn’t. How can you stop post coming through your door? Although we aren’t completely paper free, we are using as many tools as possible to continually reduce the amount of paper we consume at toggle HQ.