Reducing your impact on the environment within the workplace isn’t always easy, when it comes to office printers however there are plenty of quick fixes you can implement to help you towards a greener office. Here we’ve highlighted a few quick policy changes that could be introduced if you want to limit the environmental impact of your printing…

Font and formatting

Simply by getting rid of bolder headers and the amount of text is a small change that could end up having a big impact in the long run. By using less ink for every page, especially when it comes to regularly printed documents, you could have a greener office before you know it. Other considerations to take into account could be using thinner fonts like Century Gothic and reducing the size of your letterhead. While it may seem like a small change, the amount of ink and toner you save could surprise you.

Thinner, recycled paper

Today nearly all office printers will accommodate paper that has a weight of much less than 80gsm. By using thinner paper, it means less material is being used for every page you print, making it a simple and great way to reduce your energy usage significantly. Additionally, by ensuring that all your paper is recycled, you’re effectively neutralising the environmental impact your office printing has.

Duplex printing

Most office printers will have a duplexer function that is often underused. By taking advantage of a duplexer function, it means you’re instructing the paper to print on both sides of the paper automatically. Not only will it save time but it will effectively cut your paper costs in half.

All in one go

Sometimes you will need to print something urgently, but for those documents that can wait a while it may be worth sending all your printing jobs to the printer in one go. Every time the printer gets a print request, an initialisation process gets underway, which warms up the machine. By sending all your requests at once, it limits the amount of times the printer has to run a start-up cycle, which again will save energy as well as printer consumables.

High capacity cartridges

This is another simple change you might want to take a look at. Most office printers will now provide standard cartridges as well as high capacity ones. In nearly all cases, the larger capacity cartridges have been filled completely. By opting for these cartridges over the standard ones, you may experience lesser running costs on-top of your business producing less waste cartridges.

 

Remanufactured cartridges

Technology within new office printers is nearly always within the printer itself, it means that it doesn’t require a lot of effort to recondition the cartridges. Using re-manufactured cartridges from a third party is a quick and easy way to ensure that your company is making the most out of every cartridge. When you consider that most cartridges can be re-used more than once before they get broken down, it makes sense to opt for remanufactured ones. Often, businesses worry about the reliability of remanufactured cartridges, but with third party producers required to meet very strict measures of quality, there’s no need to have any performance concerns.

Use standby

Although it’s common knowledge that most office printers have standby modes, they are usually underused. By keeping your printer active throughout the working day and outside of working hours, you’re consistently draining energy. By using a machine that limits the amount of power needed to maintain the standby mode, you could significantly reduce the environmental impact of your printer. Some machines only use a single watt while in standby, and can still go from standby to print in a matter of seconds. That means you don’t have to suffer any delays while reducing your energy usage at the same time.

 

For more advice on the best print hardware for your business, and how managed document services can improve your productivity, your bottom line, and your carbon footprint, get in touch with our sales team here. ASL Group are a managed document solutions company, who streamline and improve the print operations of their clients: https://asl-group.co.uk/