Avis axes US brochures to cut carbon footprint

Avis Rent A Car will reduce its paper consumption by 100 tonnes a year having decided to discontinue the printing and distribution of customer brochures in the US.

The global car-hire company said the move is expected to preserve 1,500 trees annually and reduce Avis' costs.

Becky Alseth, senior vice president of marketing for Avis parent Avis Budget Group, said: "Avis has always made it a priority to deliver information about our programs and services to our customers in the format that they prefer.

"In today's wired world, our customers have told us that they want to obtain this information electronically. This presented us with the opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint."

However, Brian Garson, managing director at Mitsubishi HiTec Paper, said: "This is a ludicrous decision by Avis and seems to be more about cost-cutting."