E-Billing Saves More Than Trees

Millions of consumers have switched to electronic bill payment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and save paper and money. Each person can save up to $100 a year by paying online, and the rewards are even better for a company that switches to e-billing.

Billtrust, which helps businesses switch to e-billing, reports that doing so can slash a company's billing costs by 25% to 35% by reducing the need for materials, postage and labor. And of course, switching to paperless billing is a great way to increase your company's commitment to the environment.

Paper billing has a hefty impact on the environment. In 2006, the U.S. Postal Service delivered 19 billion paper bills to American households. That requires paper, about 533 million pounds of it, as well as lots of wood and water to make the paper in the first place. Delivering the bills requires transportation, which uses fossil fuels and emits greenhouse gases. And when customers pay bills by sending paper checks through the mail, they almost double the environmental impact of billing.

According to the Pay It Green Alliance, converting 10,000 paper bills and checks to electronic transmittal would save 3,729 pounds of paper, eliminate 148,398 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions and prevent 35,566 gallons of wastewater from polluting our water bodies.

Switching from paper billing to electronic billing can also save your company a lot of dough. In 2004, Office Depot saved close to $1 million by using paperless billing. To find out how e-billing could increase your company's bottom line, try the Benefit Analysis Tool from Avolent.

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