How Receipts Impact People & the Planet
Take Action: Click here to sign our petition to CVS
Every year, US receipt production consumes millions of trees and billions of gallons of water, generating large amounts of waste and emitting greenhouse gases.
Ecology Center estimates 93% of thermal paper receipts are coated with BPA or BPS. Research shows that receipts can contribute to human health issues. BPA has been banned from other items because it contributes to developmental, reproductive, and neurological problems.
Customers handle a dozen paper receipts every week, and employees may touch thousands in the same time period. Environmental Working Group analysis of Center for Disease Control data shows that retail workers are shown to have 30% more BPA in their systems than other adults. Nearly 81% of Americans have detectable levels of BPS in their urine, and 90% of our exposure to BPS comes from thermal paper receipts. Many retailers are already making the choice to move away from using these papers, but the majority of stores still need to take action.
The Solution: Skip the Slip
Green America wants to eliminate these toxins from thermal paper and to reduce the waste of paper receipts from companies like CVS.
CVS finally rolled out digital receipts in 2016, but its failure to promote this option has resulted in just 5% of its customers using digital. And its use of receipt paper coated in BPS continues to pose health risks to its workers and customers.
Our Report
Green America's Skip the Slip report highlights cost-effective digital and non-toxic solutions for retailers to protect their employees and customers, and reduce impact on the environment. Businesses will walk away from this report with a deeper understanding of the unnecessary impacts receipts have on the environment and human health, and also be equipped with next steps for better receipt practices. Access the full report here.
Ways to Take Action
- Sign our petition here urging CVS to Skip the Slip (and share!)
- Urge companies you patronize to improve receipt practices on social media (#SkiptheSlip).
- If you're a business owner, please review the report above and contact us to learn more.
Environmental impact estimates were made using the Environmental Paper Network Paper Calculator Version 4.0. For more information visit www.papercalculator.org
We provide answers to questions about reducing paper receipt usage.
Green America's Survey Results on Paper and Digital Receipt Preferences
Access full report here
Why Receipts?
Paper receipts
Victory
Thanks to our Skip the Slip campaign to address the toxicity, resource use, and waste of paper receipts, the first-ever bill to tackle paper receipts was introduced in California on January 8, 2019.
This new bill in the California Assembly would…
Green Living
Tell CVS to #SkiptheSlip to save trees, cut emissions, reduce waste and protect human health.
Take Action
The refrigerants, substances used in cooling appliances, emit hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs. HFCs have thousands of times the warming capacity than CO2 and they are the fastest growing greenhouse gas.
JPMorgan Chase Bank and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company are leaders in financing climate destruction.
Through their financing, insuring, and investing in fossil fuel companies, they continue to seek profit from the climate emergency that threatens life on Earth.
JPMorgan Chase…
We're asking Carter's to adopt a strong, public chemical management policy that will protect workers and consumers, starting by disclosing what chemicals are being used in its supply chain. We also want Carter's to develop plans to restrict/replace the most toxic chemicals with safer…
Latest News
WASHINGTON, DC – December 17, 2019 – Roughly 9 out of 10 U.S. consumers (89 percent) would like retailers to offer digital receipts as an option to customers, and millennials and younger Americans are out front on adoption of the no-paper option…
Why Receipts?
Our Skip the Slip campaign tackles the unnecessary environmental waste and toxins used in thermal paper receipts. Every year in the US, receipt use consumes over 3 million trees and 9 billion gallons of…
November 25, 2019
Together, we can protect the world's most vulnerable people and our precious planet.
Become a monthly donor!
Move forward. Push back.
Use your voice for people and planet.
©2017-2020 Green America
Green America's website is sponsored by Green America members and 