We all know that every business loves to manage energy costs efficiently, so why are so many still neglecting these ideals when it comes to printing? Other than being very anti-green and costing your business a lot more money, printing carelessly just wastes so much time and effort that could be spent elsewhere.
Reports, emails, funny memes, guidebooks… many of these are printed out around the office without much care to the overall cost. If you’re a small business looking to save your money and be more environmentally-friendly with your printing, then there’s undoubtedly a lot that you can do right now. So, the next time you’re about to press the print button on your document, first consider these tips.
Does this even need to be on paper?
For many employees, bits of paper can simply become scattered somewhere on their desk and then buried under mountains of other things. In a meeting, for example, you could simply ask everyone to take notes or even email the important facts afterward, instead of giving out printed sheets to everyone! If absolutely necessary, printing out one sheet and asking everyone to hand it around could also work.
Buy recycled printer cartridges
In the UK alone, it’s reported that around 66 million printer cartridges are sold each year, yet only 15% are estimated to be recycled or reused. This is a fairly disappointing figure, especially when we consider that recycled printer cartridges don’t simply end up in a landfill and buying them can actually save you 80% less in some cases. Choose an online seller which uses eco-friendly practices and recycles its toners and ink cartridges. The same goes for purchasing recycled paper, of course!
Use both sides and black & white
Color printing obviously uses up ink far quicker, so if a dazzling red or deep blue isn’t 100% necessary on the paper, then switch to black & white. Also, make sure your printer options are set to ‘Print on Both Sides’ if you’re using Microsoft Word, for instance.
Make use of ‘print preview’
Ensure you’ve seen what the document will look like before hitting print with ‘print preview.’ You might find that one sentence is printed on an entire page, which could have been avoided if you’d lowered the font size and kept large spaces to a minimum.
Store your documents online
There are so many reasons for storing documents electronically instead of printing and keeping them in binders and drawers. These e-documents are safe from fire or other damages, can be accessed from anywhere in the world, and are always a lot quicker to access than physical ones. This can be achieved via Google Drive, Paper Tiger, or any number of online storage tools.
So, as you can see, there are many great tips and tricks for saving the amount of ink and paper you use when printing a document. The easiest way is to avoid even printing at all, but definitely consider the environment and your own expenses before hitting print, as you’ll save a lot more than you think.