Prevent the extra copy first
Begin with the paper that enters your home or office each week: mail, invoices, school notices, packaging and printed work. Choose one recurring source of unnecessary paper and change how it arrives. Recycling is useful, but avoiding a copy you never needed also avoids storing and sorting it.
Spend ten minutes looking through a normal week's paper recycling. Count duplicate pages, single-sided printouts and items nobody read. This small audit gives you a specific starting point without needing a complicated environmental calculation.
Set a deliberate printing routine
Before printing, ask whether the person receiving the document needs a paper copy. Check the preview, selected pages, orientation and number of copies. Remove blank final pages and test one copy before a batch. Use double-sided printing when the document and printer support it.
Black-and-white or draft settings may suit internal working copies; keep the quality and accessibility the reader needs. Small text crammed onto a page can defeat the purpose of reducing paper. Save a printer preset for routine work, but review settings before printing labels or special media. Energy.gov.au's workplace guidance includes duplex printing and suitable reuse of paper. Our office equipment guide covers printer selection and power settings.
Make digital records easy to retrieve
Move suitable bills and statements to electronic delivery where everyone who needs them can access them. Create a simple naming pattern, such as year-month-provider-topic, and one agreed folder for the household or team. Make a backup and test that you can find an important record before discarding its paper copy.
Digital delivery does not mean every original can be destroyed. Check the retention and original-document requirements that apply to your records. For business, tax, legal or identity documents, ask the relevant authority or adviser when uncertain. Keep a paper option for anyone who needs it.
Use access controls for private information and remove documents from a shared printer promptly. A shared folder with unclear permissions can create a different problem from the paper pile it replaced.
Reuse suitable sheets and sort the rest
Use clean, non-sensitive single-sided sheets for rough notes or planning if they are safe for the intended use. Do not put confidential information in a communal scrap tray. Follow your printer's paper-handling instructions before feeding previously used sheets through it.
Keep a clearly marked paper-recycling container near the place paper accumulates. Check your council or collection contractor's rules for shredded paper, coated packaging, receipts and contaminated material; they do not all belong in the same stream. Flatten suitable cardboard and keep recyclable paper dry. NSW EPA's recycling information is a starting point for NSW households, with local collection instructions taking priority.
For sensitive documents, arrange a disposal method appropriate to the information. Check whether your provider accepts shredded paper and how it should be contained. Do not assume putting a document into recycling protects its contents.
Buy to the job and review the result
When buying paper, choose a suitable weight and finish for the actual job, compare recycled-content information and check any certification claim for the product. Order quantities you can store dry and use. A bargain carton that becomes damp or obsolete is still waste.
After a month, compare the number of reams or sheets used with the amount of work completed. Note changes in workload so you do not confuse a quiet month with a successful intervention. Give one person responsibility for printer defaults and ordering in a shared office. For the wider household, add this routine to your sustainable-home action plan.
About this guide
Prepared with AI assistance using the sources linked in this guide. Sources checked on 14 October 2026. This is original Simply Maid guidance, not a republication of the former My Green Life website.
Change log
Who wrote and edited this article, when its sources were checked, and what changed.
