Electronic distribution versus hard copies

Electronic distribution means making a document available as a digital file, such as a PDF you open from a shared folder or a class website, instead of giving people printed pages. It is usually more environmentally friendly because no printed copy has to be made or delivered to you.

A hard copy uses paper, made from trees, and ink or toner. Printing also uses electricity, and delivering paper copies by post or van burns fuel. Electronic distribution avoids these steps for each reader, so it uses fewer raw materials and causes fewer carbon emissions from transport than printing a copy for everyone.

What a hard copy needs	What electronic distribution avoids
Paper for every copy	Using up paper made from trees
Ink or toner	Using up printer consumables
Electricity to run the printer	The energy used for each print job
Post or van delivery	Fuel and emissions from physical transport
Copies thrown away when outdated	Paper waste from discarded documents

For example, a youth club shares its summer timetable with 80 families. Printed, that means 80 sheets, printer ink and trips to deliver them. If the times change, the printed copies are binned and new ones are printed. Shared as a digital file, the timetable is edited once and reopened by families without a new print run, so less paper, ink, printing energy and waste are created.

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