THE ECONOMICS OF PAPER CONSUMPTION IN OFFICES

This paper explores the factors potentially responsible for the overconsumption of office paper and estimates the adverse environmental and economic impact of overconsumption. Data were collected from the employees of selected higher educational institutions in Oman. Technical factors, workplace env...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of business economics and management Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 43 - 62
Main Authors Shah, Iqtidar Ali, Amjed, Sohail, Alkathiri, Nasser Alhamar
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Vilnius Vilnius Gediminas Technical University 01.01.2019
Subjects
computer technology
Economic impact
Energy consumption
environmental and economic cost
Oman
paper consumption
printing
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Summary:This paper explores the factors potentially responsible for the overconsumption of office paper and estimates the adverse environmental and economic impact of overconsumption. Data were collected from the employees of selected higher educational institutions in Oman. Technical factors, workplace environment, printing preferences and lack of awareness were found the main cause of overconsumption. Environmental and economic impact of the paper was estimated from the actual amount of paper consumed using standard formulas from literature. The institutions have used 5,200 reams (13 tons) of 80gm A4 size paper in one year. The economic cost of the paper was 7,800 OMR (20,280 US$). The environmental impact estimated are: cutting of 312 trees, 73,970 Ibs of CO2 gas emission, 144,742 KWh of energy consumption, solid waste produced 29,614 lbs and 247975 gallons of water were wasted. Changing printing preferences, a significant amount of economic and environmental resources to the tune of 44.8% can be saved.
ISSN:1611-1699
2029-4433
DOI:10.3846/jbem.2019.6809