10 Dec San Francisco Chronicle: “Cutback on Paper”
By Dan Howells for the San Francisco Chronicle
One overlooked contributor to the rapid warming of our planet is the waste generated by unnecessary paper production.
At Green America, we worked with corporations to reduce unnecessary printing. CVS, notorious for long receipts, saved 87 million yards of receipt paper within four months of our Skip the Slip campaign.
Now, we’ve found another ally in the fight against climate change. Healthcare companies are required by law to produce 90 billion sheets of printed prescribing information each year—a practice that the Food and Drug Administration has proposed ending, but Congress has prevented the change.
Printed prescribing information, which is provider-facing and available online, eliminates nearly 11 million trees each year, accelerating the climate change that is currently impacting our communities.
It’s time for Congress to stop blocking the logical, sustainable solution.
Dan Howells, Director for Climate Campaigns, Green America