[OPINION] Paper Clips - The better alternative to staples
In sustainable living, we must analyze every part of our lives and figure out where we can cut down on waste– even on the small things. One such example is in our paper organization, where we have many different ways of keeping our documents together: staples, paper clips, and “staple-free" staplers.
The first thing I want to address is “staple-free staplers”, which is arguably one of the worst on this list. Not only are they extremely limited in how many papers they can keep together, but they don’t even do a good job of keeping them together. So, I decided to keep them out of this piece altogether. However, if you use staple-free staplers and feel that they have been working well for you, by all means, please continue using them!
Next up, we have the most traditional method of paper organization, which is staplers. If you aren’t familiar with them, staples are small pieces of metal that are punctured through your papers using a tool to keep your papers together. They are small, quick, and a relatively cheap way to keep your papers together. Now, there are many, many things in the world that leave a much bigger environmental impact than the little metal that is stapled, but if it's a small piece of waste that we can keep out of our landfills, I would see it as a win in my book. While staples themselves are pretty much recyclable, as they are made from steel and can be melted as any other metal can, the biggest threat is not the staples, but rather the stapler itself. Staplers include many components that are commonly made with plastic and metals (1). While it is definitely possible to separate the stapler and recycle each part separately, it is highly unlikely that many people are willing to take the time to do that. A person will likely not go through thousands of staplers in one lifetime, but many businesses and settings where there is hefty paper use are much more likely to do so. Knowing this, is it really worth it to spend money on staplers if there is a better alternative out there?
Now, I propose to you a (possible) better option: paper clips. I know what you are probably thinking– why would I use paper clips instead of staplers? Well, while staplers might seem like the better option at first, if you are someone who regularly staples papers together, you would know that there are a lot of problems associated with using them. Firstly, stapler jams are so regular that it feels like it takes forever just to get a couple of pages together. Additionally, staplers have a limit on how many papers they can put together based on the size of the tool itself, which means that if you are someone who likes to staple many papers at once, you’ll have to upsize if you can’t meet your needs. Paper clips, on the other hand, do not jam. While they also need upsizing to hold together more paper, it is much easier to buy a pack of multi-size paper clips than to buy a whole other stapler to keep more papers together. Furthermore, sometimes you may run into the issue where you staple a few pages in the wrong order, or that you want to add more pages into one group but can’t. With paper clips, you’ll never have this issue, because while paper clips hold pages well, it isn’t permanent and you can change the order of the pages as you wish.
On the other hand, paper clips are also more sustainable than staples. If you buy a large pack of paper clips and take care of them, they can last you for a long time– maybe even forever! Like staples, steel paper clips are also recyclable, but do not need a large bulky tool to use them. So, next time you go out to buy supplies for school or for your office, consider dropping the staples for some paper clips!
Sources
https://www.stapleheadquarters.com/how-staplers-are-manufactured#:~:text=Staplers%20have%20several%20components%20and,made%20from%20metal%20and%20plastic.
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