Saving trees: OB10 e-invoicing renders environmental benefits
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 4/15/2008 4:59:00 PM
Clients of the OB10 global e-Invoicing network helped save 1,123 trees in 2007 by replacing paper invoices with electronic ones, as OB10 recently announced the latest “green” accomplishments of its network clients.
Mohawk Industries, Greif, Hewlett-Packard, Kellogg's, General Motors, and GlaxoSmithKline were joined on the OB10 network in 2007 by Mead Westvaco, Motorola, Apple ACS, Shaw, Tyco Electronics, Coldwater Creek, DHL, Eli Lilly, and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Altogether, the increased use of the OB10 network meant 223 more trees were saved in 2007 compared with 2006.
OB10 arrived at its green totals by calculating the number of sheets of paper saved via e-Invoicing, and then using standard industry figures to arrive at the number of trees saved, as well as other benefits. For instance, e-Invoicing on the network in 2007 also saved 93 barrels of oil, 192,000 kilowatts of electricity, and prevented 2,800 pounds of air pollutants—all involved in the paper manufacturing process—and represented the diversion of 156 cubic yards of paper from eventual landfill disposal.
According to industry estimates, invoices are responsible for 10 percent of the trees cut down each year around the world, and the production of invoices consumes as much electricity annually as 20 million homes. Also, a year’s worth of invoices take up as much landfill space as 10 football fields, each stacked more than 100 feet deep with paper.
"With the business world’s heightened awareness of the issue of global warming, everything that can be done to reduce industrial emissions, use less energy, and require fewer resources benefits the planet,” says OB10 CEO Jamie Gunn. “When you add these gains to the business advantages of greater productivity, cost savings, and improved cash flow that e-Invoicing represents, it’s easy to see why more companies are embracing this technology.”
OB10 says it will continue its partnership with the National Arbor Day Foundation as it did in 2007, matching match the performance of its network by donating 1,123 trees to be planted in national forests in the U.S.
The OB10 global e-Invoicing network, which has members in 90 countries and across six continents, is distinguished by its Any-to-Any Data Formatting capability that allows suppliers to submit invoices in any electronic format, from s ERP systems such as SAP and Oracle all the way down to small-business QuickBooks-generated invoices.
