Yep, that is a lot of paper
There was that story this week about how city council meetings in Saratoga Springs are going paperless. And as part of that story, one of the city commissioners mentioned that city hall uses 475 cubic feet of paper every year.
That sounded like a lot of paper to us, but really, how much is it? So we decided to measure that figure against something we could relate to. And this being Saratoga Springs, we picked the track. The result, with how we got it, after the jump.
Here are our assumptions:
1 piece of multi-use office paper is .0038 inches thick
So 1 vertical foot of paper = 3,158 sheets
1 square foot = 144 square inches
1 standard piece of paper = 95.5 square inches
So 1 square foot = 1.5 sheets of paper
And 1 cubic foot of paper = 4,737 sheets of paper
The main course at Saratoga is 1 1/8 miles around and 80 feet wide
So, the track is 475,200 square feet, which is equal to 712,800 sheets of paper
475 cubic feet of paper = 2,250,075 sheets of paper
2,250,075 sheets of paper / 712,800 sheets per trip around the track = 3.16 trips
The Bottom Line
Saratoga Springs City Hall uses enough paper each year to completely cover the main course at the track more than three times over.
Say Something!
We'd really like you to take part in the conversation here at All Over Albany. But we do have a few rules here. Don't worry, they're easy. The first: be kind. The second: treat everyone else with the same respect you'd like to see in return. Cool? Great, post away. Comments are moderated so it might take a little while for your comment to show up. Thanks for being patient.
Comments
Well, I know they are at least talking about maybe thinking about using synthetic material for the track.. maybe kill 2 birds with one stone & cover it 3 times over with the paper they save.
That's why my mom says I'm the smartest.
... said Pantaloons on May 8, 2008 at 12:32 PM | link