The EEPN’s vision includes wanting to see paper use by Europeans cut by half, and we are sometimes taken to task by people who think this means we are ‘anti-paper’. We are not. We believe that paper is a precious resource and some of it brings enormous benefit to society. However, some paper uses are pointless, wasteful and stupid, and it is this kind of paper consumption that we want to reduce. Junk mail. Paper plates. Excess packaging. Pointless photocopying.

To help everyone to distinguish between good and bad paper use,  the concept of ‘paper utility’ is helpful. The Paper Utility Matrix is a simple tool that can help organisations to identify where they can make big paper savings without losing any of the benefits that paper can bring.

To introduce the concept and tool we are running an online seminar, or webinar, which we have nicknamed a PEP talk (because it’s part of our Paper Efficiency Project, shrinkpaper) on Wednesday 10 April. You can find out more about paper utility and the webinar on our paper utility page: http://shrinkpaper.org/why-use-less/paper-utility/. Places are limited so if you would like to take part, please contact us to register.