“Don’t print this email unless you really need to; think of the environment!”

It’s a familiar note at the bottom of emails – and it’s set to take on global meaning on 6 November with the launch of World Paper Free Day.

Businesses and consumers are called on to “banish” paper for the day by information trady body AIIM.

It will make a donation to tree charity Arbor Trust for each person who joins in.

At least 100 people from companies such as IBM, Accenture and HP have pledged to go paper-free, says the association.

AIIM president John Mancini said: “We know that you can’t eliminate the use of paper entirely, but we want World Paper Free Day to make us think a bit harder about the sheer volume of paper we waste.

“If the whole world gets behind this, we could save around 821,918 tons of paper and 10,958,904 trees – that’s got to be worth thinking about.”

Tips suggested by the group to help workplaces ditch paper include:

– lobbying your boss to make cutting down on paper a priority;

– using tablets and smartphones in meetings;

– swapping notepads with Outlook calendar or apps like Evernote for “To do” lists.