Air Date: Week of June 12, 2009

A new company is taking receipts out of your wallet and putting them into your inbox. Lindsay Breslau reports.

Transcript

YOUNG: Just ahead – trying to tame the jungle – with a Motor City mindset. But first this Cool Fix for a Hot Planet from Lindsay Breslau.

BRESLAU: "Would you like your receipt, or shall I put it in the bag?" asks the cashier.

You consider your choices-- you could shove the flimsy paper into your already bulging wallet or ask for it "in the bag", knowing it will probably end up in the trash.

Soon you may have a third option, thanks to a company called TransactionTree.

TransactionTree's new service allows retailers to offer email receipts to their customers instead of paper ones. The service, which will be launched by several retailers in the coming months, emails a copy of the receipt to the customer and saves a copy online at NoMoPaper.com.

This environmentally friendly option could save paper, help consumers keep track of their expenses online, and shorten lines at the cash register.

So in the future, when a cashier asks you where you would like your receipt, you could say your inbox would be just fine.

That's this week's cool fix for a hot planet. I'm Lindsay Breslau.

YOUNG: And if you have a Cool Fix for a Hot Planet, we'd like to know it. If we use your idea on the air, we'll send you a sleek electric blue Living on Earth tire gauge. Keeping your tires properly inflated can save over $375 a year in fuel. That according to a study done at Carnegie Mellon University. Call our listener line at 800-218-9988, that's 800-218-99-88. Or email coolfix—that's one word, coolfix—at loe.org.