Saskatchewan's 18 cabinet ministers and five senior government officials will be issued iPads. (Apple)

Saskatchewan cabinet ministers are being issued iPad tablet computers in an effort to reduce paper consumption.

Government officials say 18 cabinet ministers and five senior staff will receive the portable electronic devices made by Apple Inc.

In Canada, the 3G models with 64 GB of memory cost $879 each, plus recycling fees and taxes.

While the initial outlay for the province is about $23,000, an official said double that amount will be saved in the cost of printing and courier costs after just one year.

"In my office alone, as this gets rolled out, I will save 68 boxes of paper in my office a year," Rick Mantey, a senior official in the premier's office, told CBC News. "We're [also] saving on courier costs. That's going to go down, from my office, by $8,000, $9,000 a year."

Mantey said that in a typical week, a single cabinet minister could be loaded down with six to 10 kilograms of documents.

"We can stop that in a very secure environment," Mantey said.