b'ENVIRONMENT| LEGAL SECTOR| 2021SUSTAINABILITY INSIGHTPAPER USE 2021 AusLSA Member PerformanceFour Hundred reams of A4 office printer paper weighs one tonne.In Australia, law firms their customers and courts and tribunals Its production requires 24 trees plus the water, oil, landfill andhave all made significant changes to the way in which they operate associated pollutants generated through manufacture. The paperthrough the extensive use of digital technology to facilitate industry uses more water to produce a tonne of product than anydocument submission.other industry. Firms have been consistently reducing the amount of paper they Globally, there has been a sharp decline in the need for paper asconsume through technology, improved processes and necessity. commerce is forced to quickly adapt to electronic formats becauseThe amount of paper used by AusLSA members since 2017 has of COVID disruption. According to Forbes Magazine large paperreduced by almost two thirds ( sixty-three percent). This year companies are closing factories to adapt to a market that noAusLSA members have reduced paper use by 460 tonnes this year longer demands vast quantities of paper and Nikkei reports thatwhich is thirty-five percent in total weight, or thirty-nine percent the production of office print paper in developed countries hasperemployee. 2021s savings are equivalent to 184,000 reams, 614 reduced by between twenty to thirty percent. pallets or 38 semitrailers loaded with paper It is disappointing, however, that of the remaining paper used by firms, only around 30% is recycled. This is a similar level to last year, but has grown from 2019 when the figure was only 22%.AusLSA members have demonstrated they can continue to service their clientsand meet the obligations of the Courts in the rapidly transitioning digital world. The challenge for post COVID is to maintain these processes and not revert old practices.PAPER USERECYCLED PAPERkg per employee Paper recycling recovers waste paper and manufactures it into new paper products. Recycling paper involves breaking it into 104 reusable cellulose fibres by mixing it with water and de-inking it.97 There are three categories of paper feedstocks used to make 80 recycled paper:63 Mill broke is paper trimmings and other paper scrap from the manufacture of paper38 Pre-consumer waste is obtained from printers offcuts and run errors, so it has never been used by consumers, andPost-consumer waste is paper and card that has been 28.78 186.96 previously used by consumers.2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Paper made from post-consumer waste makes the greatest contribution towards removing paper from the waste stream.In Australia, recycled paper often includes virgin fibre from plantations or native forests to improve economics and quality. 2020 PAPER CONSUMPTIONIt is generally best to choose paper products with the Per employee for all firms highest post- consumer content possible tomaximise the environmental benefits 40KGAdvantages of recycled paper compared with virgin pulpAVERAGEthirty-six percent less energy consumption forty-four percent fewer greenhouse gasesthirty-eight percent less waste papereighty-two percent less solid waste than virgin fibre paper.thirty-five percent less water pollution and 2KG135KGseventy-four percent less air pollutionMINIMUM MAXIMUM70'