Paper defies the computers

By ANNE BESTON environment reporter

The "paperless office" appears to have gone the way of petrol-free cars and moon tourism, hailed as inevitable 30 years ago but seemingly further away than ever.

Despite an electronically connected world, our appetite for paper is undiminished.

In 1980, a year before the introduction of IBM's personal computer, paper consumption worldwide was about 70 million tonnes.

By 1997, that had more than doubled to 150 million tonnes.

New Zealanders used just over 183kg of paper - two pine trees - each last year for everything from printing company reports to wrapping birthday presents.

Total paper production last year, including office paper, newsprint, packaging and specialty papers, was 847,000 tonnes.

New Zealand used 708,000 tonnes of paper, imported 350,000 tonnes and exported 489,000 tonnes.

Associate Professor Stuart Barnes, of the Victoria University School of Information Management in Wellington, said the question was no longer whether technology could do away with paper, but whether people could do without it.

"How can human beings, who are so used to the enduring and tactile qualities of paper, shift our behaviour solely towards machine-based interaction?" he said.

In The Myth of the Paperless Office, published in paperback this year, Professor Richard Harper of Britain's Surrey University and co-author Abigail Sellen found a simple reason for our love of paper - technology hasn't produced anything to match it in terms of convenience and familiarity.

Their research also showed that workers surrounded by mountains of paper are the ones doing all the work - sifting, constructing and thinking about information for a "knowledge" world.

But New Zealand companies, like those overseas, are finding ways to do business without paper.

"More and more companies are moving aspects of their business from physical to digital, a trend that will continue," said Dr Barnes.

One example is petfood manufacturer Masterpet, New Zealand's biggest distributor of pet products.

Last year, it introduced a wireless system for its warehouse "pickers", the people filling orders.

The salesperson uses a mobile phone to phone in an order, the information is fed to pickers equipped with headsets and the whole paperless process takes around 10 minutes.

Masterpet's order error rate has fallen from 12 per cent to 2 per cent, equating to a saving of about $60 an order, and sales staff can spend more time building customer relationships and less apologising for orders gone wrong.

"It's certainly paid for itself, we're now looking at upgrading it," said Masterpet representative Carl Humphries.

"We've had about a 300 per cent improvement in productivity."

But international office equipment manufacturer Xerox says the "paperless office" doesn't yet exist.

"There are stories of companies operating without paper, some without landline phones, some without desks, but it's difficult to say whether these have been successful or not," said marketing and communications manager Hamish Mitchell.

A recent Xerox survey of European company directors found 48 per cent thought information technology had made their jobs harder.

One third believed it had made their work more complicated.

"We've got the resources and technology to make paper obsolete right now," Mr Mitchell said.

"But the thing about technology is that on its own, it's not enough.

"Technology requires a change in the way humans work, yet companies continue to inject technology without making necessary changes."

Xerox's research also shows 90 per cent of documents are eventually printed.

That is expected to decline by around 40 per cent by 2005. In the meantime, the number of pages coming off the printer will quadruple.

It is also estimated that half all emails sent today are printed.

If that continues, the figures are mind-boggling. About 2.6 trillion emails were sent in 2000, and by 2005, the number is predicted to be 9.5 trillion.

Xerox is developing "electronic paper", liquid-filled plastic sheets which can reproduce images and be erased.

But don't look for a hand-held electronic newspaper or book to take to the beach any time soon.

Penguin Books publishing manager Jeff Atkinson says the problem is hardware, not software.

"It's simply a matter of how people are going to be able to read them but I guess we will overcome the problem one day."

Xerox is thinking along the same lines.

Says Mr Mitchell: "If we can address the information technology issue from an end users' perspective, we may one day see a decline in our love for paper."

Paper recycling


* Every tonne of paper recycled saves between 13 and 22 trees

* The Ministry for the Environment says about 49 per cent of paper is recycled

* Paper Reclaim Ltd says about 30,000 tonnes of paper go to landfills each year, costing Auckland businesses $9 million.