6 Eco-Friendly Printing Practices Your Company Can Adopt For Sustainability

by John Connolly

Many firms fail to notice the product and environmental waste printing sometimes creates. Eco-friendly supply and printing practices are not always prioritized while optimizing their workflow and productivity.  Printing the wrong document or ordering too much toner leads to excessive waste.

Eco-friendly printing practices simply involve a more sustainable approach to utilizing your printing devices day in and day out. You can tailor your printing practices to fit your specific needs and sustainable goals.

This article focuses on six eco-conscious printing practices:

1. Implementing an In-House Recycling Strategy

Setting up an in-house recycling strategy will certainly encourage your employees to reduce waste.  To create one that works, first target your firm’s major waste contributors. Next, implement a three-step process that your employees can all follow. This strategy will involve:

Your company’s in-house recycling strategy will need a designated employee to ensure that all steps are being properly executed. This recycling strategy will likely require additional labor dedicated to achieving this important goal.

2. Designating Printers for Specific Needs

Once you understand your current office layout, then you can decide which printing devices are necessary and which are not.

For example, does that make sense if every employee has their own desktop printer and the office also has three shared multifunctional print devices based on necessary requirements?

Decide which of your employees require their own desktop printer and which can effectively share a multifunction device with others.

Designating your office printers for specific employees and their needs can help reduce waste, cut costs, simplify workflow, and reduce excessive clutter. 

3. Regular Maintenance & Cleaning

Routinely cleaning your printing devices will help your company get the most out of them. Failing to care for your printers can result in equipment damage and decreased performance which can lead to prematurely leasing or purchasing a replacement.  Whether you would like to hire a managed print provider to routinely clean your printers or assign an employee to effectively do the job, cleaning is a critical part of printer maintenance. Ensure that your company’s printers are cleaned thoroughly to avoid an accumulation of dust, grime, or ink.

To effectively clean a printer, some necessary items you will need to have are:

A printer has serviceable parts that often get covered with dust.  Maintaining your office printers is critical in getting long-term use out of them.

4. Printer Usage Monitoring

Monitoring and auditing your printer and copier usage are beneficial in any office environment.

Without printer usage monitoring, offices can overorder a ton of color toner and ink and end up throwing away excess paper. Not being aware of what supplies are required for your day-to-day printing needs may result in overspending and waste.

5. Choosing an Energy Star Certified Printing Device

ENERGY STAR is a widely trusted label on products that meet energy-efficiency requirements created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Their printers and copiers do not use as much energy as other printers and copiers without sacrificing performance. Companies can still implement eco-friendly printing practices with or without an ENERGY STAR certified printing device. However, ENERGY STAR devices are identified as more efficient and sustainable products.

6. Utilizing Energy-Saving Mode

Setting each of your office printers to energy-saving mode or power saver mode saves on power by leaving the printer on standby.  This is featured on many of today’s printers and can contribute to adequate energy savings.

By simply getting serious about your company’s printing operations and the waste that follows, you are already taking a massive step in a sustainable direction.