Are your printing practices as green as they should be?

In recent years business owners and decision makers have discovered that keeping their operations, suppliers and practices as green as possible is a vital part of growing success.

Consumers and customers are now part of a responsibility revolution where they care deeply about how sustainable their goods and services are. If a business has a strong corporate social responsibility, they have a good reputation, which attracts and retains customers.

Add to that the practical benefit of less waste, using recycled paper and reducing power use, and even small business see big cost savings. So, it’s a win for you and the world.

When it comes to printing practices there are a number of ways business owners and decision makers can be seen to be green.

Find an eco-friendly supplier

Because of the nature of print practices chances are you receive goods or services from a number of different suppliers. Finding out how environmentally responsible they are can feel daunting. But, because of the growing desire to be eco-friendly in business, most suppliers will go to the trouble to get certification proving their green rating. Talk to your supplier or visit their website to see what certification they have. And, if it’s hard to find an answer, chances are they aren’t as green as they should be.

Double-check the need to print

Printing costs money and uses resources, which puts a strain on the environment through waste and landfill. Making sure your employees really need to print a document could result in them finding other solutions or at least questioning if they really need to print a document that could perhaps be viewed online. One of the ways to make printing less convenient is by embedding a double confirmation in the printer itself. This works by queuing print requests as the printer receives them, then asking the employee to confirm their print via a pass code specific to them. It’s a lot of hassle if you don’t really need to print, and could cut paper and ink use, not to mention waste, dramatically.

Cut the need for recycling

While filling up the recycling bin with wasted print paper might make Jane in Accounts feel smug and virtuous, it’s not a perfect solution. Every piece of recycling in that bin has to go through a process of actually being recycled, which creates greenhouse gas emissions and harms the environment. While it’s still better than landfill, the ideal situation is to not use the resources in the first place and only print what you really need.

Use the right paper

Despite being one of the world leaders when it comes to recycling paper and cardboard, the average Australian still consumes approximately 230kg annually in un-recycled paper. While recycled paper gets a bad rap, the truth is standards have improved vastly over recent years and businesses don’t have to compromise on quality to be environmentally responsible. Seek out a local recycled paper supplier for your business and find out more about what the Australia is doing to help make recycling and waste management easier here.

Invest in more energy efficient printers

While the initial cost of upgrading your print fleet might seem daunting, the benefits and savings soon become apparent.

Just like other technologies, printers have improved in ways that help reduce costs, identify and stop waste, and reduce power bills.

By having an up-to-date system that works in line with current technologies your business can be green, while being more efficient and successful.