Paper is the largest source of waste in most offices, with the average employee using up to 50 sheets of A4 every single day, according to government advice group Envirowise.
The group also estimates that UK businesses throw away five million tonnes of printing and writing paper each year.
The fourth point of Computing’s Green Charter is: establish a code of practice designed to minimise unnecessary printing.
Dr Martin Gibson, Envirowise programme director, says businesses cannot afford to ignore this problem.
‘Wasting paper is not only a drain on our environment, but a burden on most companies’ bottom line – they are wasting money with every piece of paper they use needlessly. In our experience, most businesses don’t think enough about how much they are paying for items they throw away. There is tremendous scope for reducing waste in offices,’ said Gibson.
Envirowise statistics show that paper usage in the average business is rising by about 20 per cent every year, although this figure varies enormously between companies with policies on paper waste and those without.
The figures show that employees working at organisations with printing policies will use as little as 15 sheets of paper a day compared with a less resourceful office of the same size where each person can use up to 100 sheets of paper per day.
Envirowise recommends a few simple measures to reduce paper consumption.
Its advice includes setting printers to default to double-sided printing, avoid printing out handouts for meetings where possible, training staff to be aware of the benefits of being more environmentally conscious, and to print in black and white as much as possible.
Duncan Brown, consulting director at researcher IDC UK, says the first and most important step in reducing printing waste is to track how much printing you do.
‘Our research shows that 80 per cent of firms have no idea how much they spend on printing. Only by measuring costs can you begin to understand what savings are possible,’ he said.
Darryl West, director of group IT at Lloyds TSB, says measuring usage allowed the company to establish a printing policy.
‘We have guidelines in place for cutting out colour printing and only printing what we really need in black and white. We also recycle waste paper and cartridges, but there is always more that can be done,’ he said.
Catherine Doran, director of information management at Network Rail, says that a few of these measures have been effective in producing a significant reduction in paper usage.
‘This year, an internal campaign Think before you print was launched with the aim of making office-based staff more aware of the environmental and business costs associated with unnecessary printing,’ said Doran.
The campaign combined staff education with technological solutions in the field. ‘All employees are actively encouraged to cut down on the amount of printing they do. And that, coupled with improved IT systems, means we have seen a reduction in paper usage,’ said Doran.
‘We are also about to complete the implementation of 1,100 handheld systems to our out-based signalling maintenance teams. These handheld devices reduce the need for worksheets to be printed out, an initiative which we expect will give us paper costs savings of £20,000 per year. The whole programme has just been completed.’
EDF Energy is also looking to make significant savings with the introduction of a greener printing policy.
The project will, among other functions, default all network printers that support double-sided printing to this setting, along with black and white draft quality print.
EDF expects to make a saving of between 10 and 20 per cent on paper used for printing, and a saving of about five per cent on toner use.
Stephen Meredith, improvement and technology manager at EDF, says putting policies in place first is essential for setting an example to staff, who can be encouraged to follow suit.
‘We believe that policies such as these are very effective in encouraging employees to consider their impact on the environment at work,’ he said.
Andrea Kalavsky, systems magician at Innocent Drinks, says going green is not the only motivation for such strategies.
‘Every IT person’s dream is to run a paperless environment and we are moving closer and closer to that,’ she said. ‘Cost savings can go hand-in-hand with improving the environment.’
Innocent also have a ‘sustainability squad’, which sets environmentally-friendly objectives across the business, and takes responsibility for ensuring employees are reminded of environmental initiatives. The squad aims to make Innocent Drinks a ‘sustainable business.’
‘A sustainable business is one that cuts costs through taking full account of the environmental consequences of economic activity. It is a business that is based on the use of resources that can be replaced or renewed and are therefore not depleted – that is our aim,’ says Kalavsky.
To sign up to Computing charter email your details to:
greencomputing@computing.co.uk
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