Going truly paperless is a lofty ideal, but it’s not yet possible for most businesses. From paper-based invoices and reviewing text and drafts, to branded marketing materials and other everyday workflow printing, the necessity of hardcopy materials has yet to be nullified. However, the question of how to remain green within your business printing seems to be more and more prevalent, as corporate accountability of environmental impact increasingly becomes center-stage.
While technology catches up to our ambitions, here are a few simple ways to make your printing habits greener:
- Use space wisely
You have more control than you think about how your printed documents use space on a page. Whatever you’re printing, copy and paste the text you want into a Word file where you can make formatting changes. Consider trimming the margins to half an inch on each side to get more usable surface area out of each piece of paper. Controlling your fonts is another important trick—odds are you don’t need the title of the article in Arial 60 point. Ten- to 11-point font is usually big enough for most readers.
- Use paper sparingly
When getting ready to print, choose “multiple pages per sheet” and you’ll be able to fit two or four document pages onto a single sheet of paper. You can also make sure another setting is selected—double-sided printing! A duplex printer can be a great ally in going green. Change your default settings so documents automatically print on both sides of the paper and you’ll cut your paper usage in half with ease. For printouts that only use one side of a sheet of paper, reuse the blank side for notes, brainstorming, or printing drafts.
- Read and archive digitally
Documents with long blocks of text can be a challenge to read on your desktop screen. But, instead of printing the whole thing to read later, try using your e-reader to read through long documents. Check the user settings for your “send to device” email address, and just email the document there. Now that 200-page manual is a tiny handful of bytes on your phone, tablet, or e-reader. For archiving, improvements in text recognition now make it possible to search your digital documents’ content. Numerous cloud-based services can store, index, and search your documents for you, reducing your reliance on printed materials.
- Provide in-line feedback
One of the last holdouts for printing documents is in reviewing text and drafts. You’ll want a full proof before starting any major print job, but for most shared documents, commenting without printing is easier than ever. Both Adobe Acrobat and Microsoft Word offer comment and note tools, enabling you to give detailed feedback without losing sight of the original material.
- Be mindful about your printing choices
If you must print, especially from the Internet, be sure to use print-ready formats, if available. Graphics, photos, and menus can gobble up toner, so check for optimized formats and think about using copy-and-paste to trim the fat before hitting “Print.”
- Know your equipment
Understanding the capabilities of your printer will help reduce errors and misprints. Post helpful hints next to printing devices so users always know where to put letterhead and which way to insert an envelope in order to print on the front. Last but not least, make sure users know how to abort a print job to avoid an out of control file from gobbling up your print capacity.
Making smart printing decisions is half the battle in going green. To complete your strategy, enroll in a waste-reducing cartridge recycling program. Contact us today to learn about Monster Technology’s free toner recycling service to help you keep your printing habits good and green.
About Monster Technology
Monster Technology is nationwide business technology provider. With sales offices in the Los Angeles & Reno Metro area as well as distribution centers all over the US. We help our clients improve productivity while yielding real hard cost savings through leveraging our muti-phase approach. Our core offerings include Managed Print Services, Managed IT, Document Management and Office Equipment.