Five Things You Need to Save Energy and Resources With Your Office Printer
Want to preserve power and resources while using your office printer? Luckily, there are a number of things you can do. Here are five things that can help reduce the amount of power and resources your printer uses, making it better for the environment.
1. Power Strip
A power strip lets you easily turn off your printer at the end of the day before you leave the office. This saves money compared to letting the printer stay on. Alternatively, opt for a printer that has a power-saving mode. That way, it will automatically conserve power when not in use.
2. Recycled Paper
When you use recycled paper, it doesn't waste as many resources as using paper that has been sourced from recently cut trees. You can buy paper that features varying percentages of recycled content, and the higher, the better in most cases.
3. Non-Wood Paper
In lieu of buying paper made from wood pulp, consider exploring paper that has been sourced from a different material. You can get paper sourced from hemp, bamboo or cotton. Those materials are easier to grow than trees. For example, planting and harvesting a hemp field takes 12 to 14 weeks, while in contrast, growing a tree can take 20 years or more. As a result, hemp is more sustainable as you can harvest and re-grow rather quickly.
4. New Default Settings
Although new settings are not a material thing, they can still be extremely helpful if trying to reduce the amount of energy and resources you use with your office printer. Have your IT team set up the default settings so that pages are always printed in black and white, double sided and draft copy. Then, if users want to change the settings to print something more professional looking, they can on a case by case basis.
5. Remanufactured Cartridges
Sometimes called refilled or recycled cartridges, remanufactured cartridges use an old cartridge, designed for a laser or inkjet printer. Rather than sending the old cartridge to the landfill, the manufacturer saves it, repairs it and refills it with ink. This protects resources as it reduces the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills.
Most remanufactured cartridges are made by third party companies. However, keep in mind that not all third party companies make remanufactured cartridges. Some make imitation cartridges. As a result, if the description says something like "Lexmark-quality" that only means it has been tested to meet the quality of a Lexmark cartridge. Unless it says remanufactured or recycled, it may not be what you want.
For more information on office printers, talk to a professional.