The TDSIT Blog

This year, April 22nd marks the 44th annual Earth Day celebration. Earth Day is the perfect opportunity to examine your company’s sustainability practices and begin to adopt new policies to help protect Mother Earth. 

One of the easiest ways to move your company towards a green office environment is to examine your company’s print environment and policies. Today, the technology exists to go paperless in your office environment. Even if you're not prepared to go that far, auditing your company’s print environment can turn up some pretty shocking information that with a little planning can be monitored and turned around to help your workplace to become more sustainable.

Did you know:

• According to the Go Paperless website, the average office worker in North America prints 10,000 pages per year!

•  According to MPS Insights the average lifespan of a printed document in today’s office is less than 5 minutes!

• In the typical office, a single laser printer can generate 100 pounds of waste per year when paper, packaging and consumables are taken into account!

These statistics are truly shocking when you consider the number of laser printers being used every single day in offices throughout North America. A recent report by Print Audit, a company that provides print management software found that in offices where workers simply believe that their printing habits are being monitored, print volume drops by an average of ten percent.

It’s really easy to see how taking some simple steps in your workplace like eliminating unnecessary printers, or monitoring printer output can go a long way towards reducing operational costs and making your office more sustainable.  Taking simple steps like using the appropriate hardware or implementing a Managed Print strategy are two additional ways you can work to get your company’s print environment under control.

One of the best ways to assess your company’s print environment and begin to get your costs under control is to undertake an audit of your company’s printing practices, policies, and hardware. Working with an MPS company is a great first step. They will come in and audit your print environment, often for no charge, and can offer easy to implement cost effective solutions like helping your company to go paperless that will help to make your business more sustainable.  It’s a smart business decision and a great way to celebrate Earth Day this year!

Click here for your free e-book on how to make your office more environmentally friendly!

This year, April 22^nd is Earth Day. As the 42^nd day to appreciate, celebrate and work to protect the earth approaches, it’s the perfect time to consider what effect your office has on the environment. Perhaps last year, or in previous years, you made a commitment to do better at operating a green office environment, or have made such a resolution in previous years. If you’re wondering how green your office really is, or how you could improve even more, take our 2012 Green Office Print Challenge!

a) 5,000 pages        b) 7,500 pages        c) 10,000 pages

If you chose a), you’re only half right. According to the Go Paperless website 10,000 pages are printed by the average office employee each year. So the correct answer is c), 10,000 pages. Does that seem excessive?

a) less than two weeks    b) less than one day           c) less than five minutes

We’re willing to bet you chose b) as your answer, but to get this one right, you would have to once again select c). According to MPS Insights, the average life span of a printed sheet is a shockingly short five minutes before it is – hopefully – recycled. This begs the question: was there truly a need to print it in the first place?

a) $100                            b) $225                       c) $300

The correct answer here is b), $225 per year to power a typical laser printer. Do the math, and you’ll find this translates to a possible monthly savings of $18.75 if you can reduce or optimize your print fleet by removing even just one laser printer.

a) 50 pounds                             b) 100 pounds                  c) 200 pounds

The correct answer here is b). 100 pounds of waste are created each year by just one typical laser printer. Now imagine how many laser printers are at work each day around the globe…that’s a lot of waste!

a) 5 percent                     b) 10 percent                   c) 15 percent

The answer to this final question in this year’s Green Office Print Challenge is b), 10 percent. This is the average drop in print volumes experienced in offices where employees have simply been advised that their print behaviors are being monitored.

Based upon the information in the challenge, it is easy to see how some simple steps, such as eliminating a printer or controlling the output of printed material, can help make your office greener and also reduce operational costs. 

There are a variety of ways you can optimize your office print environment to reduce costs and minimize your impact on our planet. Using appropriate hardware or implementing a Managed Print strategy are a couple of examples. The best way to determine the appropriate solution that fits your organization’s needs is to complete a no obligation print assessment.

Are you concerned about the impact your office’s printing practices have on the environment? Do you acknowledge Earth Day in your office? We welcome your thoughts and comments on this important issue and encourage you to share your “green office” print best practices with us!