Reducing Paper Towel Consumption

Woolridge Elementary School orders 30 cases of paper towels per month, and each case costs $16.66.  That equates to nearly $5,000 a year spent on paper towels.  That's 1,200,000 paper towels that are thrown in the trash each year!

I felt it was important to reduce the number of paper towels used at our school for a number of reasons.  First of all, it's important to conserve our trees, which are an important natural resource.  It takes a lot of energy to create paper towels, and creates a lot of pollution too.  Paper towels are a problem on the other end too as they end up in our landfills.  But another reason to reduce our paper towel consumption is to save money.  These stickers have been proven to reduce paper towel consumption by 15%.  Some schools have reported a 30% reduction in consumption.  In the case of Woolridge, a 15% reduction amounts to an annual savings of about $750!  Multiple that out across the 60+ schools in our school district, and you're talking about tens of thousands of dollars - all because of simple little sticker that reminds people that "these come from trees". 

During Earth Week, Woolridge students placed "These Come From Trees" stickers on the paper towel dispensers located in the various classrooms and bathrooms in the school.  They were generously provided to us free of charge by Pete Kazanjy.  He's a product manager/designer living in the Silicon Valley, and this is a fun side project that he hopes can do some good.  Click HERE to read about how the idea of "These Come From Trees" stickers was born.

So be on the lookout for these stickers the next time you're visiting Woolridge Elementary School.  Remember to take only what you really need.  I bet you'll find that you only really need one or two paper towels to dry your hands instead of a a big giant handful.  You'll be saving the trees as well as saving our school district some money.