Going paperless is a trend that is not going away. I’m sure in a few years, the younger generation will look at us and wonder why we like to hold that paper bill in our hands and then file it away in a cabinet! Many companies are starting to offer incentives to their customers to go paperless in billing and bill payment. Going paperless has many advantages – it reduces costs, reduces paper waste and reduces carbon emissions by not having to be delivered through the postal system to name a few. The City of Fort Lauderdale has recently rolled out “Save A Tree, Plant A Tree” to encourage its utility customers to go paperless by offering up to two free trees if they sign up for the program. If your utility is not offering a paperless alternative, you need to encourage them to do so!
Save a Tree, Plant a Tree
Build a Canopy. Go Paper-Free!
 The City of Fort Lauderdale presents Save a Tree, Plant a Tree, an innovative program that merges environmental protection and resource savings by offering free trees to Fort Lauderdale customers who switch to a paper-free utility billing process.
Save a Tree, Plant a Tree offers many benefits, including:
1. It promotes and encourages sustainability through paper-free services that save energy and natural resources.
The City of Fort Lauderdale prints approximately 54,000 utility bills each month, which equals 108 reams of paper. It takes 6 percent of one tree to make one ream of paper and one tree makes 16.67 reams of paper. If every City of Fort Lauderdale utility billing customer received an e-bill, he or she could help save approximately 6.5 trees per month or 78 trees per year1.
2. It increases the City’s tree canopy to cool, shade, and beautify homes, neighborhoods, paths, parks, and roads.
Twenty-one percent of the City of Fort Lauderdale is canopied by trees, and the City’s goal is to increase that to 25 percent by 2018. The tree canopy is vital to the health and beauty of the City, as it has many positive impacts. Trees provide shade, which helps reduce the heat island effect, a phenomenon of urban areas being warmer than surrounding rural areas due to the amount of concrete and asphalt being heated by the sun. Trees also help reduce stormwater runoff, filter pollutants, absorb carbon dioxide and provide oxygen, conserve household energy, save water, prevent soil erosion, and create a food source and safe home for native wildlife.
Trees also give a rural feel to urban areas, create recreational opportunities, and help increase property values. They also serve as landmarks that give neighborhoods a unique identity, as well as character and charm through their diverse shapes and sizes. Visually, trees help transform areas of brown, black and white into beautiful canopies of green.
3. It is a fiscally responsible alternative that helps “green” Fort Lauderdale while reducing expenses.
The City of Fort Lauderdale has 50,9862 utility customers and just 3,052 are signed up for e-billing. If the remaining utility billing customers only signed up for e-billing, the City of Fort Lauderdale would save approximately $183,499 per year, or $15,292 per month, on paper and postage needed to send out utility bills.
1. Calculations are based on a 40-foot tall tree that is six to eight inches in diameter.
2. Calculations are based on the number of utility customers as of 03/22/13.
GET A TREE BY GOING PAPER-FREE!
Getting a free tree is easy. Fort Lauderdale utility customers just need to sign up for Automatic Bill Payment and/or E-billing and then pick up their tree, or two trees if signed up for both services, on the prescheduled day set for the timeframe they signed up in. Three types of trees are available as part of the Save a Tree, Plant a Tree program, and they are native and Florida-friendly. This means the trees are adapted to Florida’s climate, are not invasive, and require minimal water, chemicals, and fertilizers.
For more information on this program go to http://www.fortlauderdale.gov/saveatree/index.htm .
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