Turn to tech: How the digital age could help save the environment
Image source: Adobe Stock/peach_adobe.
It’s hard to remember a time when working from home wasn’t the norm and office attendance was mandatory. The pandemic changed our mindset towards ‘going to the office’, and offered office workers and environmentalists alike the perfect experiment to understand how working from home can make a positive impact.
The pandemic also gave many industries the opportunity to move away from an environmentally damaging commuting 5-days-a-week work routine. From entire companies working from home to various teams, or the individuals, our recent study revealed just how much a person could save, both in cash and carbon footprint, by choosing to work from home.
An individual remote worker could save:
- $6,000 in travel and food costs by choosing to work at home
- 233 hours by not having to commute
- Using paperless document management tools, such as PDF editors, PDF mergers, and online signature tools, the average worker could save one full-grown pine tree
With many companies now encouraging their employees to work remotely, resource-free workflows are now helping transform what would have been billions of paper files into fuss-free digital documents.
Though it’s true that not all industries have the capability to work from home, there are other ways to save paper, save trees, and ultimately save the planet. Simply replacing the familiar stacks of physical paperwork with efficient, technological tools — such as the PDF compressor and Adobe Acrobat to request e-signatures — could save companies up to $284 per employee per year and have a significant impact on their ecological footprint. After all, companies will always have more when they need less — and putting trust in technology could make all the difference.
Industries that could make the biggest environmental impact
Every industry should seize the chance to make greener choices if they can — but which ones could have the most significant impact on their ecological footprint? In our recent research study, we took a deep dive into the American citizens who reportedly work from home to reveal how many trees, sheets of paper, and daily expenses certain industries could save — provided they switch to digital document processes.
Coming in at number one, with the opportunity to make Earth Day more than once a year and have the most positive impact on the environment, is the education and health industry. From classroom materials to hospital paperwork, this service section could collectively save $2,001,965,700 in resource spend, 7,049,175 pine trees, and a whopping 70,491,750,000 sheets of paper.
Not far behind lecture halls and medical establishments is professional and business services. If this industry were to embrace digital technologies, they could save up to 59,428,6000 sheets of paper and 5,942,860 trees — not to mention a sizable $1,687,772,240 in profit. Doesn’t that sound like a smart business move? Similarly, in third place with a potential $837,622,500 up for grabs, the financial sector has the power to preserve 2,949,375 pine trees and reduce paper waste by 29,493,750,000 sheets. That’s right — it pays green to think green.
Check out how other industries compare:
How industry paper waste compares to popular US landmarks
Ever wondered how many pine trees it would take to reach the clouded heights of the Chrysler building? Or perhaps you’ve pondered how much paperwork you’d have to stack to get as high as the Statue of Liberty? Thanks to our team at Adobe, your questions have been answered.
By analyzing the number of people who reportedly work from home full time across America, we crunched the eye-opening numbers to see how the different industry data compares to iconic US landmarks — and how much of a positive impact certain industries could have if they were to embrace the digital world and ditch paper workflow.
Using the total height, in meters, of pine trees and sheets of paper companies across the US could save a year, we compared each industry to the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Willis Tower, Chrysler Building, Seattle Space Needle, and Golden Gate Bridge, and the results might surprise you:
The Empire State Building
Is it time to switch to an empire state of mind? We found that employees in the education and health services could save a total of 7,049,175 pine trees by substituting paper flows for digital documents, which equates to the height of the Empire State Building 310,291 times. Even King Kong would struggle with that climb.
Comparatively, the 59,428,600,000 sheets of paper that could be saved by professional and business services equate to 1,006,128 times the height of the Empire State building. Considering that the Empire State Building has symbolized technological prowess and economic strength in the US since its creation, it may be time for companies in this sector to cut back on costs and take the technological resources at their disposal to use them for good.
The Statue of Liberty
Which industries could lead the way with liberty to greener practices? According to our findings, if the 2,949,375 employees that work from home full time in financial activities were to move to digital workflows, they could replicate the height of the Statue of Liberty 2,378,528 times with the amount of paper they would save.
What about education and health services, you ask? If they pushed paperwork aside and turned to tech, they could save 7,049,175 pine trees — which adds up to 1,478,053 times the height of the Statue of Liberty. From where we’re standing, it’d be really hard to see the torch and crown from down here.
The Willis Tower
Willis Tower is home to the highest public viewing area in the United States and is the twelfth-tallest building in the world. The question is, how many versions of the Willis Tower could the 598,364 pine trees saved by the retail trade equate to? As it turns out, the answer is a hefty 22,141 times.
According to our research, the professional and business services report that 5,942,860 staff members work from home full time — which could save 59,428,600,000 sheets of paper each year. That's the same as 845,758 versions of the Willis Tower stacked on top of each other.
The Chrysler Building
Want to know the positive environmental impact the wholesale industry could have compared to the height of the Chrysler building? 30,799 — that's the number of times work-from-home employees in the wholesale trade could re-create the Chrysler Building, based on the 503,846 pine trees they could save by working from home.
As for retail trade, the 5,983,640,000 sheets of paper that could be spared if they chose to embrace digital practices over wasteful paper use could stack the Chrysler Building on top of itself 140,681 times. Now that’s a lot of stairs to climb.
The Seattle Space Needle
Quite out of this world, we can reveal that if professional and business services switched to technological resources, then the 5,942,860 pine trees that could be saved would equate to 191,547 times the Seattle Space Needle.
If employees working from home in the information industry utilized digital workflows full-time, they could save 14,203,620,000 sheets of paper every year. This would equal the height of the Seattle Space Needle a staggering 176,078 times.
Golden Gate Bridge
What isn’t as beautiful as the sweeping cables and tremendous towers of the Golden Gate bridge is the environmental impact industries will have if they continue to push unnecessary office hours.
According to our findings, those working from home in the information sector full-time have the potential to save 1,420,362 pine trees by switching from paper to digital. That's the same as stacking 122,013 versions of the Golden Gate Bridge on top of each other.
In comparison, however, education and health services could reach even grander heights. If they chose to save the 70,491,750,000 sheets of paper they collectively use equates to a whopping 2,329,023 times the size of the Golden Gate Bridge. An Adobe spokesperson says:
“Visualizing the data in this impactful way helps in understanding how much of a positive environmental effect industries could be having, if only they utilized digital solutions like Adobe Acrobat — which allows you to edit PDFs for free, as well as merge files, compress PDFs, and convert documents. The US has sustainable solutions to protect our planet within its grasp, but it’s down to industry leaders to put these practices into place and push for change.”
Check out how much paper and trees could be saved across all industries:
It all adds up: how industry waste compares to iconic US attractions
As well as comparing our findings to iconic landmarks, we decided to take it a step further to reveal how each industry could save on its paper use by turning to waste-free resources, compared to tourist attractions across America. Have a peek at what we uncovered below:
- Pine trees and politics? The 503,846 trees saved by the wholesale trade could result in 565 times the White House Grounds
- An industry that could knock it out of the park? If the education and health services embraced resource-free workflows, such as Adobe Acrobat, they could nearly double the size of Central Park and save 7,049,175 trees
- Which industry could make environmental magic? Companies specializing in information services could make up 12.5 Disneylands by saving 1,420,362 pine trees
- Want to know something wild? The 2,949,375 trees' financial activities could potentially save through sustainable tools like the PDF compressor could equate to 7 Animal Kingdoms
- What’s a clean and clever industry decision? As for professional and business services, the 5,942,860 trees saved from working from home could make up 1.68 Harvards
Take a look at what else we found:
The top five states that could make a difference by working from home
Based on the labor force population, we analyzed how much each state would save if they chose to work remotely. Calculating the amount of money, trees, and paper they could potentially spare, we discovered which top five states could have the biggest environmental impact if the entire working profession chose to invest in digital document services and ditch the office.
- If California worked remotely, it could save up to $5,475,378,852, as well as an exceedingly high 192,795,030,000 pieces of paper.
- Texas could save a total of 29,945,493 pine trees and cash in $4,144,227,684 if its working population worked from home.
- Florida could save a sizeable $3,053,043,452 smackers and 107,501,530,000 sheets of paper if they left office culture behind.
- New York could save 20,365,879 pine trees and up to $2,703,660,688.
- Pennsylvania could spare 64,504,680,000 sheets of paper and save $1,831,932,912 if its citizens moved from the office to work from home.
Methodology
Based on Adobe's recent remote and hybrid work article, we know that with document management tools, an individual remote worker* could save:
- One full-grown standard pine tree per year by not printing paper
- $284 per year for their company through digital document processes
From here, we pulled data on the estimated population that works from home split by industry to reveal how many trees, sheets of paper and the monetary value companies could save (per person, per year) provided they were to use digital document processes such as Adobe Acrobat, highlighting the positive impact they could be having on the environment. Then, taking the average workforce population for each US state, we were able to calculate the areas across America that could save the most trees, paper, and money if they were all to work from home, or, at least switch to digital document tools.
We then completed a study on the height of trees and sheets of paper which could be saved by these industries and compared the results to famous landmarks (which will be visualized) to show just how much these industries could positively impact the environment by using digital systems. Taking it a step further, we also calculated the number of trees per hectare as well as the number of square meters per hectare, to allow us to make comparisons to iconic US attractions.
*As part of the methodology, it is important to reference that Adobe is aware that not all industries have the ability to work from home, however, in the instances in which industries are unable to do this, document management tools are still an option.
Learn more about how Adobe Acrobat can help your company fight climate change.