BlockBill : The Blockchain-Powered Paperless Billing Solution
Let us take a look at a small business that , on average , conducts about 20,000 transactions in a week and provides receipts for the same then , and it will have an annual carbon footprint of 26,000 kg of Carbon Dioxide emission just from receipt production and usage ; This is the equivalent of producing 2,600,000 plastic bags .
In the US , receipt production annually uses more than 3 million trees and 9 billion gallons of water and produces 302 million pounds of solid trash while emitting over 4 billion pounds of CO2 ( the same amount as 450,000 cars on the road ) [ 8 ].
To meet the demand for paper receipts in the UK , about 200,000 trees are cut down each year . This same number of trees would have removed 4000 tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere annually .
All of these statistics become more concerning when we consider the fact that around 90 % of the receipts are thrown away lost or damaged , rendering them useless , which means that the bulk of resources being consumed , and the carbon footprint being generated , majorly end up as trash .
Considering the devastating impact of the paper receipt industry on the environment , and its serious health concerns , it is imperative that steps be taken to counteract these effects by halting its production and meeting its demand with an encompassing solution . Error ! Reference source not found . gives an infographic illustrating the emission and associated environmental impacts .
Figure 2-1 : An infographic showing the Environmental impact of paper-billing systems .
94 April 2023