Are you Paying It Green?

A recent email from WACHA quotes interesting stats from NACHA:

• Almost 22 million employed Americans still don't have access to Direct Deposit for their pay. According to PayItGreen, if those employees used Direct Deposit, annually we would save 8.7 million pounds of paper and avoid releasing 25 million pounds of greenhouse gases into the environment. April has been established as PayItGreen Month to coincide with Earth Day, which in celebrated this year on April 22.

The PayItGreen Alliance is a coalition of financial services companies, led by NACHA — The Electronic Payments Association, committed to educating consumers and businesses about the positive environmental impact of choosing electronic payments, bills and statements instead of paper. These facts are the result of a study commissioned this year by PayItGreen on the "positive environmental impact of getting paid electronically by Direct Deposit."

WACHA's email notes that "...although most large companies offer Direct Deposit for payroll, there are still opportunities for them to increase participation from their employees. Even small- and medium-sized businesses can reduce their carbon footprints by paying their employees via Direct Deposit instead of by paper check. If a business that employs just 300 people and issues paychecks every two weeks switched to Direct Deposit, it would save 121 pounds of paper and avoid the release of 346 pounds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in one year."

You can check out the environmental impact of your own business by using the Direct Deposit Environmental Calculator on www.payitgreen.org.

"What large and small companies don't realize is that by offering Direct Deposit and maximizing participation, they not only are helping to save the environment, they are also saving their companies significant money," said Angela Ceccarelli, vice president of marketing for HSBC Payments and Cash Management in New York, and a spokesperson for PayItGreen.

Directo payroll cards can help your business achieve total direct deposit, by allowing all employees to participate, regardless of credit history or "bankability." Use Directo's online payroll savings calculator to see how much your company can save.

Businesses can go beyond direct deposit by paying bills electronically, and by switching to electronic bills and statments, all of which an also be used by consumers. To help customers increase their savings, Directo now offers electronic paystubs. Find out more - send an email to Jim McCarthy (jmccarthy@directo.net).