Reducing Paper and Ink
Since the onset of personal computers, the amount of paper generated has skyrocketed. Not only is paper a waste product, it's expensive to buy and diminishes natural resources. By reducing the amount of paper used in the office, you can reduce the amount of paper needed to be stored and delivered. Come up with milestone goals for the percentage reduction in paper used.
Encourage employees to think first before printing and make sure all documents are spell-checked and formatted correctly. When making copies, double-side the documents. If you are producing handouts for a meeting, consider whether they are really necessary. When audiovisuals are used, paper handouts are usually superfluous. If handouts are a must, consider printing double pages on a single side of paper.
On average, Americans use 700 pounds of paper each year; that amount has doubled since 1960. The environmental impacts from using so much paper start with getting the fiber to the mill, manufacturing the paper from the fiber, and handling the paper after it's been used.
Encourage employees to use electronic mail rather than printing memos. Maintain electronic copies of company directories, manuals, and other material rather than printing hard copies for each person to shelve. Determine what activities can be accomplished through online programs rather than generating a paper trail. Office supplies can be ordered, conference or training requests submitted, even time sheets and expense reports can be completed online. Not only does this save time, eliminating the need to shuttle paper from one desk to another, it saves resources, too.
Other ways to cut back while maintaining a professional appearance include minimizing margins, decreasing font size, and eliminating double-spacing. These minor changes will add up over time, especially when printing large documents.
When looking at how your company can reduce paper, check in the recycle bins and trash cans. Is paper being thrown away that could be placed in the recycling bins? Is paper being tossed in the recycling bins that could be used for printing draft documents or for scrap paper? Are blank pages inserted as holding places in documents and then tossed into the bin with other scrap paper?
Give paper a second life. Beyond recycling, consider what else can be done with scrap paper. Can employees use it for notes, or can local schools use it in their classrooms? Can employees take it home to use in their computers and printers or for their children to use for coloring? Additionally, paper left over from shredders can be used as packing materials for shipping fragile items.
Printers may be inexpensive, but cartridges are not. Ink can be a costly part of any office operation. There are a number of ways to reduce its use. When printing a document that is not final, print it in draft mode. There is also software available that allows more control over the amount of ink a printer uses. Inksaver allows the user to choose the percentage of ink that is used when printing. The draft mode on your printer uses approximately 50 percent of the ink used in normal print mode, so although using the software may not save as much ink as printing in draft mode, it does offer some in-between options.
