Unfortunately receipts are made out of thermal paper, which are not recyclable. The paper contains plastic from thermal printing, really hard to separate and recycle from the paper itself. Below are some simple ways to reduce the footprint.
When possible ask for email instead. Many places are actually converting to the option of electronic receipts. In turn they don’t waste the money on paper/ink and we aren’t stuck with the doomed paper.
When the store doesn’t offer an email option or even an option in general, you can collect all the receipts you use and toss it in an empty envelope. This way you can keep track of all your expenses & better manage your money when your looking at all the unnecessary purchases made.
Try out local Zero Waste Markets, these places are awesome at truly avoiding paper receipts.
Shop less, by reducing how we acquire products on a daily basis we can encourage less consumption of items, receipts and save money!
Shopping in farmers markets reduces the amount of printed receipts we accept from a physical store. Many vendors don’t normally print the receipts and usually its written or non existent.
Try to contact your local recycling center and encourage facilities to process and recycle receipts. Better yet, ask local chains/markets to switch to electronic receipts. If enough customers make noise it can cause change!
