Environmentally Friendly Office Printers and Tips: Save money while helping the environment!    

With some foresight and conservation measures, you can save money and reduce the environmental impact of your office printing.  Here are some tips from Market Point, a leading retailer of laser printers and laser printer parts, for purchasing, using and disposing of your office printers.

Tips for purchasing an environmentally friendly office printer:

·   Buy a refurbished laser printer, which will save you money and benefit the environment.

·   Buy Energy Star-compliant printers, which are designed to reduce energy use when idle.

·   Use an online user manual for the printer, rather than purchasing printed documentation.

·   Consider the printer packaging and see if retailers offer environmentally friendly packaging.

·   Consider buying an all-in-one fax/photocopier/printer/scanner.

·   Select a printer that can use remanufactured toner cartridges. Make sure the retailer has a "take-back" program for recycling toner cartridges.

·   Consider a "duplex" printer that prints on two sides.

Tips for using your office printer in an environmentally friendly manner:

·   Use Duplex printing (print on both front and back sides of the paper) or set your current printer's defaults to double-sided printing.

·   Save ink or toner by using the “print preview” or "fast draft" option of your word processing program.  This allows you to see exactly what a document will look like before you print.

·   Look for recycled printer paper made from as much as 100 percent post-consumer recycled content. Buying paper made from a high percentage of post-consumer waste reduces the number of trees needed to make paper.  It also saves energy making the paper, and keeps used paper out of the trash so we don’t have to dispose of it.
 

·   Tips for reducing the amount of paper you use:

o  Conduct a "paper audit" to see how much paper you waste, and the types of documents, and then take steps to use less paper.

o  Recycle all used paper.

o  Share electronic files with others instead of printing.

o  Make double-sided copies for internal documents and drafts, or use the blank sides of printed documents you are going to trash as scrap paper.

o  Reuse messenger envelopes to send interoffice information.

o  Reuse file folders by folding them in the reverse direction and relabeling them.

o  Use email over paper communication as much as possible.

o  Pay bills online.

o  Read newspapers and magazines online.

o  Reduce junk mail by taking your name off of mailing lists visit the Direct Marketing Association at http://www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html.

Tips for disposing of your office printer and toner cartridges in an environmentally friendly manner:

• Donate your old printer to a non-profit organization.
   
• Recycle your printer in an environmentally responsible manner.
   
• Ship your printer back to the manufacturer for them to recycle it.

·         Ask your Inkjet cartridge manufacturer for a postage paid return bag so the manufacturer can recycle your old inkjet cartridges.  Some manufacturers have rewards programs that offer a free inkjet cartridge for a certain number of empty cartridges.

·         Recycle laser toner cartridges.

Visit Market Point for more money saving printer tips.