Environmental Friendly Printing Tips that Save
One thing I hate to see at work are employees printing things out and never actually use them. We had a meeting the other day with a document provided to all participants in the meeting of over 20 pages of paper. The document was outdated and needed to be reprinted again the next day anyways. The document didn’t even need to be printed in the first place. That why I put together some ideas that could save you or you company money while being a little more environmentally friendly.
Conserve Paper
Wasting paper really makes me angry as it seems like nobody thinks before they print. The easiest way to save paper as to whether the item actually needs to be printed. As with my meeting example, if you think the document is going to be outdated soon or there are other ways to show the document without having to print one for everybody at the meeting then don’t print it. You can easily project the document at the meeting and either share the location as to where the file is at or send a copy of the document upon completion of the meeting.
Another way to save paper is to also print multiple pages onto a single sheet of paper. A co-worker in my office always prints everything on both the front and back of paper. This cuts the amount of paper used in half. Another option is to print several pages of a document on a single side of a piece of paper. This is especially useful with PowerPoint documents where the slides contain large amounts of text and you can sometimes fit up to 6 pages of the presentation onto a single side of the paper.
Recycled Paper
One option along with conserving paper is to use partially or fully recycled paper. Many offices including, my own company, are going this route and using recycled paper. Though it costs a little more than traditional paper, it can make a big difference in the amount of trees being cut down. I have used 100% recyclable office paper at my work and it prints great. I would say the quality is just as good as regular paper.
Save Energy
Paper is not the only concern when it comes to printing that is bad for the environment and wastes money. You can tons of energy by simply turning off your printer when you are not using it. This might be a hard thing to do at the office, but definitely something you can do at home. By turning off you will cut the amount of energy you are using from the printer dramatically. If you really want to eliminate any energy use by your printer, you can completely turn it off as you printer still sucks up electricity to keep that little red light on.
Recycle
Recycle any paper after you printed on it. Pretty simple, but one of those things people often overlook. Companies often contain recycling bins next to most trash cans so that it makes it easy to recycle paper instead of throwing it in the trash can. If a recycling bin is not close to your desk, just save up the paper and take it to the recycling bin when you collect enough paper. If there aren’t many available at your work, try pursuing it with management.
The market for recycling printing cartridges is huge and you should take full advantage of it. Many companies including HP will provide envelopes with paid postage where you can send back your old cartridges to the company at no charge to you. Staples has a program in which you can recycle your cartridges to get reward cards back that you can use at their stores. You can take the cartridges to any Staples store for recycling. You can also go to http://www.earth911.org/ and find a local recycling center to not only recycle your old printer cartridges, but any electronics you no longer need.
The best way to really save money and the environment is to conserve. Thinking before you actually use the printer can save lots of money and prevent less trees from being cut down. It will also reduce the amount of ink you use and save you on cartridges. Recycling should only be an option after you have carefully chosen to print something.
All of brother printers conserve energy and paper that will help you save. You can choose from many brother laser printer products and more. We also have brother label printers to help organize your home office as well.
