Toshiba Data and Toshiba Tec estimated the consumption of paper receipts based on the annual number of electronic receipts issued by “Smart Receipt,” an electronic receipt service with over 1.2 million members.
About 40 million electronic receipts will be issued in fiscal 2022. Multiplying this number by the average length of one paper receipt (15 centimeters) gives a total length of 6,000 kilometers. This is equivalent to the length connecting Tokyo and Honolulu.
Dividing the total length of 6,000 kilometers by the length of one roll of receipts (63 meters) yields about 95,239 rolls. This is higher than Mt.Fuji and approaching Kilimanjaro, the highest peak on the African continent.
Multiplying the roll number conversion value (approximately 95,239 rolls) by the average price of one roll (400 yen), the annual receipt roll reduction amount is approximately 38 million yen. Multiplying the number of rolls converted (approximately 95,239 rolls) by the time required to replace the receipt roll at the store (average of 10 seconds per roll) gives a total time of approximately 265 hours.
Toshiba Data and Toshiba Tec point out that paper receipts are a huge cost burden for stores, and call for a reduction in paper receipts.