The PayItGreen Alliance - a coalition of financial services companies advocating for paperless transactions - estimates that amounts to 533 million pounds of paper, not to mention 235 million gallons of fossil fuel to truck it all around.
Going paperless saves money, too: I don't have to spend 42 cents on a stamp, and neither does the biller.
When Tony Fisher of Philadelphia started going paperless a few years ago, he simply checked a sign-up box on bills and provided his e-mail address.
Now, Fisher, who happens to own the Big Green Earth Store on Market Street - where they're trying to wean their customers off paper receipts by logging customers' sales on the computer - is getting paid to go paperless.
He signed up for Citizens Bank's new Green$ense program, which gives customers a dime for electronic transactions, up to $10 a month.
That's a dime for every automatic deduction, each debit card use, each paycheck automatically deposited.
To be sure, this is not just a bank being generous. They'll undoubtedly save money, too, by not having to open envelopes, process checks and print statements.
Dare I say win-win?
As for Fisher, he doesn't exactly expect to get rich. "I hope I make at least a dollar this year," he wisecracked.
But he hopes it will get people thinking about waste.
Even on an individual level, the paper component of our finances can be significant.
The average U.S. household gets about 19 bills and statements a month, according to the Postal Service report, a daunting 400-plus pages of data. (Don't worry, I looked at it online.)
Of the 12 that are bills, people now pay 3.3 on the Internet or by automatic deduction. This is a 23 percent increase since 2005, and the Postal Service credits the trend with an overall reduction in mail.
