Recycling

In the last ‘Green Office Tips’ we talked about going green with your professional publications by choosing a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified printer and environmentally friendly printing techniques. This week we’ll explore how to go green with your in-house printing.

There are several options when deciding how to go green with your office’s paper and printer needs. Each can save you money and reduce waste.

Going paperless: The thought of going paperless within an office can send some people into a fit of protest. But if your office can cope with the changes, going paperless can both help the environment and boost your office’s productivity and organization.

Electronic document management systems enable you to track a document from its creation, through any manipulations it undergoes, to its storage and circulation. Even contracts can be created and signed electronically—e-signatures are equally binding under the law. For sensitive documents, security levels, permissions and access can be assigned, and electronic document storage adds extra protection in the event of a fire or other disaster. It organizes your office’s documents so that files can be located and retrieved quickly and eases preparations for audits and regulatory compliance.

Electronic document management systems also eliminate wasteful printing and duplication that consumes both material resources and employee time.

“Without an electronic document system, you might have had to scan a document and print several copies to send to people of interest. With the system, you can scan that one piece of paper and send it directly to those people’s emails,” Lindsay Kelley, Marketing Manager of Advance, a document management service provider, said.

If you cannot go completely paperless, there are other ways to be environmentally conscious with your office printing.

Choosing paper: According to the FSC, the U.S. consumes about 100 million tons of paper each year. One ton of office paper may require up to 24 trees to produce. Choosing FSC certified paper, which assures that the paper comes from managed, sustainable forests, or recycled paper with the highest post-consumer waste content possible can make a big difference. Recycled paper is often cost-competitive or costs even less than virgin paper.

Waste paper should be recycled, and double-sided printing should be used whenever possible.

Choosing equipment: Choose copier and printer suppliers that employ green programs, such as toner and cartridge recycling, machine recycling and refurbishing, and machine reuse programs, where equipment that is at the end of a contract is reused as a loaner or for wholesale.

Advance employs several environmental programs that recycle and reuse equipment and supplies.

“We partner with companies that can take back machines and strip them down and take everything that’s reusable. Our partners can also recycle up to 98 percent of an old machine that is not reusable,” Kelley said. “These pieces of equipment can do a lot of environmental damage when they’re just dropped in a landfill. It’s in our best interest, and the best interest of our children and future generations to invest in these programs and initiatives.”

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