Wells Fargo now has 1,575 Envelope-Free WebATMs in California and will be adding 277 more new machines in the Los Angeles area by the end of the year.

"Our customers can help us reduce waste and save trees by depositing stacks of bills and checks directly into Wells Fargo's ATM. The machine does the rest - sorts and counts the cash, and converts checks into digital images," said Jonathan Velline, head of Wells Fargo's ATM Banking division. "Wells Fargo is leading the way with 'bulk-check' deposits, allowing customers to insert their checks into the machine all at once, which is a big time saver compared to primitive machines which only take one check at a time."

Since installation began in 2006, 1,575 Wells Fargo Envelope-Free ATMs in California have processed 49 million checks. According to estimates from the Environmental Defense Paper Calculator, 30.1 million paper envelopes, which equates to 245 tons of paper or 4,116 trees, have already been saved by Wells Fargo's Envelope-Free ATMs.

Customers will not need to write on an envelope or key-in a deposit amount. Once money is inserted into the slot (up to 50 bills in different denominations), the machine sorts and counts the bills and verifies the amount. Customers can also deposit stacks of checks (up to 30) into the machine at one time and the Envelope-Free ATM converts the paper checks into digital images, which appear on the ATM screen and on the receipt. Customers can save more paper if they choose not to print a receipt. Customers using the new machines can get immediate credit for cash deposits and checks deposited on business days before 8 p.m. are considered received on the same day.

All of Wells Fargo's 6,900+ ATMs are web-enabled and feature six language screen options, including Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Hmong. Wells Fargo has been piloting Envelope-Free ATMs since 2002, and was the first to convert paper checks deposited at the ATM into digital images and transmit them electronically under a Federal law that allows banks to use a printed copy of the digital image of the original check.