September 10, 2008 10:54 AM

More ways to green the office
Posted by Jesse Nunesat 10:54 AM

There has been a slew of stories lately on how just about everyone under the sun is trying to become more environmentally friendly.

People are looking for green sources of power for their homes, wind turbines are in demand like never before, car manufacturers can't roll out hybrids fast enough, and now supermarkets are doing all they can to cut down their carbon footprint.

The knowledge that comes to light every day of ways to green up our lives has also reached the workplace. Maybe there is more of an awareness on recycling paper, or maybe your office building is turning out more lights at night to conserve energy.

Even the most standard of office appliances is not immune. Yes, there are ways to make your office printer more environmentally friendly.

TallyGenicom, a provider of business-class printers, offers the following five tips to help companies green their printing operations:

Remanufactured cartridges – Purchasing remanufactured print cartridges not only saves an organization almost 40 percent off of OEM pricing, but it also reduces the number of non-biodegradable plastic print cartridges heading to landfills. Remanufactured cartridges go through vigorous inspection, disassembly, cleaning and refilling to ensure high-quality products that are just as good as new cartridges.

Paper stock recycling – Recycling and purchasing recycled paper products for your company's printing needs can have a dramatic impact on the environment. According to recent figures, one ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,200 kilowatt hours, 390 gallons of oil, and eliminates 60 pounds of air pollutants.

Duplexing – According to the Clean Air Council, U.S. businesses use approximately 21 million tons of paper every year, which is equivalent to approximately 175 pounds of paper for each American. Duplexing, or double-sided printing, could effectively slash paper waste in nearly half.

Pre-printed forms – Historically, every time an organization changed its telephone number, company logo or office address, several reams of pre-printed stationary would become obsolete instantly and then thrown away. Electronic forms allow businesses to eliminate significant costs associated with the development, purchase and storage of expensive pre-printed and multi-part forms. Technology is currently available that allows data associated with general use forms to be pre-loaded electronically into a laser printer and automatically merged with existing print data streams to help eliminate paper waste.

Printer fleet optimization – The historical move over the last 10 to 15 years toward multifunction machines and away from departmental printing has brought with it a high level of inefficiency – using a laser printer to print shipping labels, for example, is akin to using a shotgun to kill a termite. Companies need to reassess individual printing needs for the front-office, back-office, warehouse and logistics, and partner with a trusted printer provider to deploy tools specifically designed for the particular job, location or business process. This means, for example, using specialized thermal printers with lower power requirements than laser printers for shipping label printing.

Has your office stepped up its efforts to be more environmentally friendly? Is telecommuting more acceptable now? Do you recycle a lot more paper? Turn out more lights in rooms that aren't in use?

What steps has your company taken to be more green? Share your thoughts in our discussion forum.