Printing practices: Five tips to reduce carbon footprint
By Manufacturing Business Technology Staff -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 9/9/2008 8:53:00 AM
Printing is a critical function for a variety of businesses, but there are some simple things that organizations can do to remain productive while implementing environmentally friendly processes. To increase awareness of environmental impact and seek ways to foster “green” business organizations, TallyGenicom, a supplier of business-class printers, offers five printing best practices that can reduce carbon footprint.
1. Remanufactured cartridges. Purchasing remanufactured print cartridges not only saves an organization almost 40 percent off of OEM pricing, but it also reduces the number of nonbiodegradable plastic print cartridges heading to landfills. Remanufactured cartridges go through vigorous inspection, disassembly, cleaning, and refilling to ensure high-quality products that are just as good as new cartridges.
2. Paper stock recycling. Recycling and purchasing recycled paper products for your company’s printing needs can have a dramatic impact on the environment. According to recent figures, one ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, three cubic yards of landfill space, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours, 390 gallons of oil, and eliminates 60 pounds of air pollutants.
3. Duplexing. According to the Clean Air Council, U.S. businesses use approximately 21 million tons of paper every year, which is equivalent to approximately 175 pounds of paper for each American. Duplexing, or double-sided printing, could effectively slash paper waste by nearly half.
4. Pre-printed forms. Historically, every time an organization changes its telephone number, company logo or office address, several reams of pre-printed stationary would become obsolete instantly and then thrown away. Electronic forms allow businesses to eliminate significant costs associated with the development, purchase, and storage of expensive pre-printed and multipart forms. Technology is available that allows data associated with general use forms to be pre-loaded electronically into a laser printer and automatically merged with existing print data streams to reduce paper waste.
5. Printer fleet optimization. The historical move over the last 10 to 15 years toward multifunction machines and away from departmental printing has brought with it a high level of inefficiency—e.g., using a laser printer to print shipping labels is akin to using a shotgun to kill a termite. Companies need to reassess individual printing needs for the front office, back office, warehouse and logistics, and partner with a trusted printer provider to deploy tools specifically designed for the particular job, location, or business process. This means, for example, using specialized thermal printers with lower power requirements than laser printers for shipping label printing.
