Printers and copiers are vital elements of the modern office. But despite being essential to business communication, they continue to raise concerns about environmental impact both at the production and operational stages due to chemical emissions and high energy consumption. Mostly made from plastic, printers also raise concerns about pollutants at landfills.
The significant rise in the demand for and use of printers and copiers in the day-to-day business cycle has led responsible manufacturers and businesses to commit themselves to implementing sustainable practices in production, purchase and product usage.Here’s what to keep in mind when investing in and using a smart device.
Design and development
Look for Energy Star-rated products with features such as quick-fusing technology that reduces the warm-up time of the machine after being switched on and enables high-speed recovery from power save mode to help reduce energy consumption.
Some brands also incorporate toner save mode, which reduces toner consumption by reducing the coverage on the output, while others offer an efficient toner recycling system that collects, recycles and reuses the toner that is not fused to the paper during the printing process.
Paper savers
Activate the duplex feature on the machine to allow double-side copying and printing and cut paper usage by half. Reduce the default margins to pack more on the page, and where possible, communicate electronically.
Energy savers
Switch to energy-saving mode so the machine automatically moves to sleep or low-power mode when not in use. Turning off the machine overnight also helps save significantly on cost and energy while helping preserve valuable resources for future generations.
Refill or recycle
Purchase remanufactured ink/toner cartridges from companies that offer purchase-back schemes once the cartridges are empty. Allocate a location within your company premises to collect all used cartridges that can then be transported to organisations that offer refilling services for reuse or collect used cartridges to disassemble parts for effective reuse as service parts and for other applications, rather than being dumped in landfill waste.
Many manufacturers and dealers offer recycling or refurbishing programmes for old or worn-out machines. These companies have their own network to collect these devices and then either recycle the outer shell or replace a few internal components and prepare them for reuse. Some even disassemble the device at the end of its life to gather the components to form new parts for new devices, or recycle them for other use.
