MNN.COM > Lifestyle > My Green Day

How to green your paperwork

By Helen Herbst
Sun, Jan 04 2009 at 8:28 PM EST
Read more: FORESTS & TREES

Paper. We write on it, we print on it, we push it. We buy it, and in some offices, we sell it. And yes, it does grow on trees. But with all this paper in the workplace, we're using up far too many trees. MNN has a few hints to help you green up your office paper trail.
 

Printing


Photo: wokka/Flickr
 
Many of us click that little printer icon so many times we have a phone-book sized stack at the end of the work day (like a Los Angeles area phone book rather than one for, say, Hibberts Gore, Maine). And really, how often do you consult your phone book? With a few tricks and a lot less printing, your office could save almost 20 reams of paper a year, per employee.
 
Changing your printer settings: The typical American office worker produces around 100 pounds of paper waste a year. With just a few minor tweaks, this amount can be dramatically reduced. For example, setting your printer to print double-sided cuts your number of printed pages by 50 percent (I would say "You do the math," but I've already done it. It was really easy). Adjust margin defaults to fit more text on a page. Set your fax machine to skip printing confirmation pages. And instead of having all the office computers connected to printers, leave only one connected so that, to print, employees have to transfer their documents to it. By making the process more time-consuming, you can keep your co-workers from printing e-mails and Dilbert comics willy-nilly.
 
Printing less: The average cost of a wasted page is 6 cents, so it's good for business to be mindful of how much you're printing. Don't print unless you absolutely have to, and if you have to print, print smart. Printing two or more pages on one side of a sheet may cut paper usage in half again. Share hard copies of documents or have one master copy, instead of printing the document for each employee. Only print final drafts. Use smaller or more efficient fonts. Shrink graphics to take up less space. Get smart-printing software — it knows what needs to print and what doesn't. You may even be able to install a code system on your office printer that will keep track of how much each person prints. The quicker you bring a wastrel's wastefulness to his attention, the sooner he'll strive to correct it.
 
The paperless office: The future is now-ish. It's likely that your office doesn't need paper any more than it needs papyrus or stone tablets. With the Internet and flash drives and all those fancy-schmancy word processors and computerized file folders you have access to, it's a wonder you print at all. Share documents within the office via e-mail or a network. Bookmark websites, don't print them. Use a scanner instead of a photocopier. Throw out your old fax machine (take it to a field and beat it with a baseball bat, if you like) and get Internet fax services. And at meetings, you can have someone take digital photos of the whiteboard and e-mail them to everybody, eliminating the need to even take notes on paper.
 


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Comments(8)

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Posted By CF Carson - Mon, Dec 07 2009 at 2:22 PM EST

Change Setting, Save Ink

I save a lot of ink by usually using the "Draft" under "Quality Option" in the "Printing Preference" tab.

Posted By Walle - Wed, Oct 21 2009 at 11:54 AM EST

No more losses

When it come to fax, I agree that everyone should use online faxing service as you can save paper on receiving and sending not to mention inks and phone lines. I also use Popfax.com fax to email provider and I trust it.

Posted By MNN User - Tue, Sep 01 2009 at 6:41 PM EST

All the paper in your life.....

Saving paper saves trees. My suggestion is that people stop and look around at the paper that is in their life. Stopping all junk mail, reading magazines and newspapers online and saving them on CD saves massive amounts of paper. Using canvas shopping bags and nylon lunch bags saves on paper. Using cloth dish clothes and towels for washing and drying and even wiping up spills, saves paper. While not everyone will want to use damp cloth wipes for cleaning in the bathroom much like we do when.... More

Posted By internet fax - Sun, Aug 23 2009 at 11:33 AM EST

No more black faxes

If you want to save you paper and you ink from black faxes (Black faxing is done by sending a black sheet of paper through fax and the intention is to finish off
all the toner ink present in the recipient’s fax machine) use an internet fax service. Now you can take an advantage of 3 years of subscription for the price of two. So it's easy and safe to send faxes and to receive.... More

Posted By Volker Pohlueke - Fri, Aug 14 2009 at 1:13 PM EST

SoyPrint can print GREEN

Any office and individual can now choose to print in a sustainable manner. High quality, compatible SoyPrint toner cartridges using toner powder derived from soybeans instead of oil. Each SoyPrint toner cartridge save 3 pounds of heavy plastic landfills and use bio-based toner!

Try www.soyprint.net and find out sustainable printing!

Posted By HeatherW - Sun, Jun 14 2009 at 8:29 PM EST

The Green Outlook

I've also found Appleton Coated's "The Green Outlook" helpful in discussing environmentally responsible print communications. Samples and other info are available at http://www.utopiapaper.com/

Posted By Valentine - Fri, Jun 12 2009 at 2:12 PM EST

Less paper

A very good way to waste less paper is to use the internet fax service instead of the fax machine. Also you'll spend less money and time. Popfax.com is one of the best providers, it's cheap and fast, available worldwide.

Posted By Anonymous - Fri, Apr 03 2009 at 2:24 PM EST

Recycle A Tee

You can also recycle your old organic clothes here organic clothing

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