If your $59 home office printer ran out of ink and you went to the office supply store to find the cost of replacement cartridges to be more than a new printer with ink – would you return home with a new device and throw out the old one? Not likely. It would be a waste.
Now think about the average office: employees print everything single-sided, printers are powered “On” 24/7 and stacks of toners sit piled up in the supply cupboard. Unclaimed print jobs end up in the blue bin or the garbage and documents are printed first, then faxed. Old, outdated equipment is sent to the landfill.
Hitting PRINT has never been easier. As a result, the carbon footprint associated with printers has increased substantially.
What can you do to reduce this carbon footprint? Here are some tips:
• Consider a managed print services program. For a low monthly fee, a third party will remotely monitor machines for toner and service issues. No more running out of toner or wondering what that error code means.
• Analyze the number of devices in the office. Are there ways to consolidate machines? Does everyone really need an individual printer? Enlist the services of a print specialist to assess and make recommendations.
• Use the “power save” feature. Schedule machines to turn on and off at certain times.
• Set printers to print double-sided to reduce paper usage.
• Invest in higher quality machines and not budget items. The total cost of ownership will be lower.
• Use the “scan to email” and “scan to network folders” options to avoid printing unnecessary copies of a document. If you have a lot of paper files, consider investing in a high quality scanner to digitize your office.
• Solid wax ink printers can be an environmentally friendly alternative to laser. Less packaging and waste, along with no off-gases make them a popular choice.
• Implement a PIN system to avoid unnecessary jobs being printed and forgotten.
By adopting even a few of these ideas, your business will be able to reduce its carbon footprint and increase efficiency.
Submitted by Vanessa Burns,
Managed Print Services Consultant
Datarite, vburns@datarite.com
