UK office workers are wasting £11bn a year printing paperwork that has been ‘lost’ on their IT systems, according to a report published recently.

The study, conducted by KRC Research and commissioned by document management supplier EMC, also found that office workers spend the equivalent of two months a year looking for electronic documents, such as emails.

More than eight out of 10 office workers in the study said companies should put more emphasis on reducing the number of documents printed rather than on recycling waste paper.

A similar number would like to reduce their carbon footprint at work and three quarters can see opportunities around the office which their employers could exploit to do so, found KRC.

But 43 per cent said their employers are a bad role model when it comes to going green in the office.