How to Offset Your Print Usage for Eco Friendly Printing
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Sustainability is more important than ever, and businesses are increasingly looking for ways to reduce their environmental footprint. Printing, a common yet often overlooked activity, can significantly impact the environment through paper usage, energy consumption, and waste production. With this in mind, we’ll explore eco friendly printing practices to help you reduce and offset your printing usage.
By adopting these strategies, you can make a positive difference for the planet and your company’s and reputation. Let’s dive into the steps you can take to make your printing practices greener and more sustainable.
Despite many valiant and costly efforts to replace paper with digital solutions, paper usage isn’t going away anytime soon. Therefore, firms must focus on using paper more efficiently and offsetting print usage.
However, that doesn’t mean that they have to skimp on quality, just that firms need to run a tighter ship. Here’s how to help preserve the environment while increasing office productivity through a more strategic use of paper.
What is Eco Friendly Printing?
Eco-friendly printing involves practices and technologies that reduce the environmental impact of printing. This includes using recycled paper, biodegradable inks, and energy-efficient printers. Additionally, it emphasizes minimizing waste, reducing energy consumption, and offsetting carbon emissions. Eco-friendly printing aims to create a more sustainable and responsible approach to printing, benefiting both the environment and businesses.
Benefits of Eco-Friendly Printing
- Environmental Benefits – Reduces waste, conserves resources, and lowers carbon footprint.
- Cost Savings – Long-term savings through reduced paper and energy use.
- Health and Safety – Non-toxic inks and materials improve workplace safety.
- Brand Image – Enhances reputation as a sustainable and responsible business.
- Compliance – Meets regulatory standards and customer demands for green practices.
- Innovation – Encourages adoption of new technologies and methods.
Negatives of Eco-Friendly Printing
- Initial Costs – Higher upfront costs for eco-friendly materials and equipment.
- Quality Variations – Recycled paper and eco-inks might have quality differences.
- Availability – Limited availability of eco-friendly printing resources in some areas.
- Compatibility – Existing equipment may not be compatible with eco-friendly products.
- Training – Requires employee training and adaptation to new practices.
- Cost-Benefit Timing – Savings may take time to materialize, affecting short-term budgets.
The True Cost
The sheer volume of paper that flows through offices every single day is overwhelming. Putting a numerical figure on it doesn’t do it justice as it’s difficult to visualize such a quantity from a number alone.
The American office worker goes through around 10,000 sheets of paper per year on average, which is a tremendous amount. The environmental cost of using that much paper is sobering and makes it clear that firms need a better way to manage their printing operations focus on eco friendly printing.
The cost adds up quickly, both environmentally and financially, especially when not using sustainable paper. The monetary amount of paper per employee varies by the size of the business. Here’s how much firms can expect to spend on paper for each office worker every month.
- Small businesses can spend $77-92 a month per person.
- Medium-sized businesses with a workforce of 40 spend closer to $45-53 per person every month.
- Larger firms spend closer to $27-32 for paper per employee each month.
Larger firms with more employees spend less per employee on paper, but the overall costs remain high. In companies with around 200 employees, paper expenses add up quickly. Therefore, reducing office paper use or increasing efficiency can significantly benefit any business.
The exorbitant cost of using so much paper creates a need for responsible printing. By offsetting print usage, firms can save money while working to reduce their environmental footprint, a move that customers will appreciate.
Managed Services Can Help Offset Print Usage
Today’s consumers are intensely concerned about the environment and they have been reflecting that concern in their purchasing decisions. Modern shoppers, especially millennials, are aligning themselves with companies that advertise themselves as being environmentally conscious. This shows just how important it is that your business practices eco friendly printing whenever possible.
Managed services can greatly improve the cost and use of paper for any organization. They offer a wide range of effective solutions including recycling programs like PrintReLeaf. When you use PrintReleaf, you’ll receive detailed reports about your usage and how much you’ve reforested.
The PrintReLeaf program has been successfully implemented at numerous universities in the state of Virginia, businesses across the country, and creates jobs in local economies while helping to fight global deforestation.
Eco Friendly Printing Experts
Kelley Create can optimize print environments with paper recycling programs and other services that will make a noticeable difference for companies of any size. The advantages of partnering with Kelley Create are unlimited. Unlike other services, they don’t work by limiting the client’s use of paper and hindering their abilities or production levels. Instead, Kelley Create works with their clients to build effective solutions that will save them money and the environment.
Call Kelley Create and ask about the advantages of responsible printing and paper recycling programs. Start enjoying greater printing productivity at a lower cost and with a smaller footprint today!