A nation of paper hoarders

Despite good environmental intentions, the UK remains addicted to paper, according to survey results released today to co-incide with the launch of HSBC’s green options for their current accounts.

While 85 per cent of people would like to reduce the amount of paper they have or receive at home, they just don’t seem able to part with it.

The nation’s cupboards are bulging with stored paper. The majority of people (82 per cent) are hanging on to bills for utilities, credit cards and council tax as well as bank-related paper items like statements (80 per cent). Cards received from family and friends for birthdays, Christmas and anniversaries are also being hoarded by two-fifths of people (40 per cent).

Natural born hoarders:

People are stockpiling paper for years. Just a fifth of people (21 per cent) throw away their bills within a year. The majority of respondents (42 per cent) store these for between one and two years, with a third (33 per cent) holding on to these for three years or longer. Bank account related items, such as statements, cheque books and paying-in books are also being retained for more than three years by almost half of people (49 per cent).

Greeting cards tend to be kept the longest with more than one in two people (51 per cent) hanging on to these for three years or more, and only six per cent of people disposing of them within a month. With the average household receiving up to 80 cards per year, a huge number of cards are cluttering homes across the UK.

Contrary to popular belief, men are as guilty of stockpiling paper as women. Men are most likely to hang onto newspapers and magazines, with a fifth of them (20 per cent) amassing these for over three years, compared with only eight per cent of women.

Almost half of men (48 per cent) are keeping greeting cards for three years or more, compared with just over half (54 per cent) of women.

Hoarding habits:

The survey showed that household bills and bank paperwork tend to be stored away for years on end, on the off chance that they might be needed again in the future.

Meanwhile, more than a fifth of people (22 per cent) just haven’t got around to throwing their old newspapers and magazines away, and a staggering 90 per cent of people admitted they hoard old greetings cards for sentimental reasons. People in the South are most likely to keep greetings cards because of an emotional attachment.

Out with the old - in with the new:

When people finally get around to having a clear out, it is the younger generation that is most likely to recycle their paper. Two-fifths of 18-24 year olds (40 per cent) and almost half of 25-34 year olds (45 per cent) mainly dispose of their paper through recycling. The older, more security conscious, age groups are most likely to shred their paper - an impressive two-thirds of people over 55 (68 per cent) say they shred paperwork when they’ve finished with it.

Mike Oliver, head of current accounts at HSBC, said: “It’s clear from our research that as a nation we are keen to ‘go green’, but we’re finding it hard to detach ourselves from paper. We only occasionally re-use or refer back to the paperwork we keep, yet we just can’t bring ourselves to get rid of it on a regular basis.

“At HSBC from 2 July, we are launching a range of green options to give customers the opportunity to go largely paper-free with their current account. If they want to do their bit for the environment, they can say goodbye to monthly paper statements, cheque books, paying-in books, letters and paper marketing material.

“To encourage consumers to save paper, we are also donating £5 to be shared between WWF, Earthwatch and The Climate Group for every green account opened between 2 July and 26 August. Individually this is a very small measure to take, but one that collectively could make a huge impact.”