Extraction and use of these resources take a toll on the climate. Every year in the United States, production of paper receipts uses the wood equivalent of 12.4 million trees and 13 billion gallons of water. It generates 1.5 billion pounds of waste and emits 4 billion pounds of CO2.
Along with a wasteful use of resources and emissions, paper receipts carry risks to our health. It’s estimated that 93% of paper receipts are coated with Bisphenol A (BPA) or Bisphenol S (BPS), endocrine disruptors linked to devastating health effects. As you may know from Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families’ efforts to tackle BPA in canned foods, studies have linked BPA exposure to issues like breast cancer, prostate cancer, reproductive health and developmental problems. Awareness about the potential risks of BPA has grown in the public, but the lesser-known BPS has become a common replacement for BPA in thermal paper receipts, and it may be just as hazardous.
The good news is that there are plenty of options companies can choose to better their receipt practices and replace outdated, wasteful, toxic items with innovative solutions.
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