U.S. paper use shrinks, a bit.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT: News, Trends & Analysis - Brief article

Electronic document technologies--such as e-mail, PDF, and instant messaging--may be causing businesses' paper use in the United States to decline. According to InfoTrends/ CAP Ventures, a consulting firm for the digital imaging industry, 2007 will mark a turning point for per-capita use of "cut-size sheets" of paper in the United States. In 2008, the organization predicts, each man, woman, and child will use 4,847 sheets of the office paper, 36 sheets fewer than this year.

"We're finally seeing a reduction in the amount of paper being used per worker in the workplace," John Maine, vice president of RISI, a pulp and paper economic consulting firm, told The Christian Science Monitor. "More information is being transmitted electronically, and more and more people are comfortable with the information residing only in electronic form without printing multiple backups."

The demand for paper used to outstrip the growth of the U.S. economy, but the past two or three years have seen a marked slowdown in sales--despite a healthy economy, according to The Christian Science Monitor. In the early to mid-90s, the booming...