We only have one earth, so it’s important to try and reduce our carbon footprint anyway that we can. A little can go a long way in an office environment! Greening your workplace can provide a healthier, more productive work environment and can positively impact your bottom line.

Paper is not going anyway anytime soon. While many things have gone totally digital, there will continue to be a place for paper in the workplace. Paper does have many positive benefits; seeing text on a page is more helpful to remembering its content, as we learn more when reading from paper than a screen. Using paper also has benefits for the environment itself. Waste material from lumber mills (woodchips, sawdust and scraps of wood) are used to make paper. According to the U.S. Forest Service, much of the paper in use today comes from waste material left over from lumber mills. Processing this waste into paper helps spare our landfills of unnecessary waste.

While utilizing paper obviously isn’t without its environmental costs, it continues to be a valuable medium and is not without its benefits. Rather than looking to abandon the practice of printing altogether, we should certainly seek to limit our paper usage by cutting down on unnecessary printing. Printing on your office copier/printer in a more responsible manner and recycling the paper you do use will allow you to enjoy its benefits while mitigating your impact on the environment.

Implementing the following printing rules can help keep your business’s environmental impact in check:

Default to Duplex

Setting every printer in your fleet to duplex (double-sided) printing packs a significant punch against your office’s carbon footprint, and reduces paper usage by as much as 50 percent. If required, single-sided printing can be accommodated by setting predetermined rules that override the duplex setting.

Consolidate Your Machines

Instead of having an individual scanner, fax, copier and printer, an easy way to green your print fleet is to consolidate your efforts with one or more multifunction printers (MFPs). By switching to an MFP, you’ll not only decrease your carbon footprint, but you’ll also use less energy and fewer supplies, decrease your overhead investment, free up office space and increase employee proficiency.

Limit the Use of Color

Default all printers to automatically print in black and white, rather than color. Set printers to require users to meet certain requirements or conditions for when documents absolutely need to be printed in color, like for marketing materials or important presentations.

Set Pop-up Warnings

Most modern printers will allow for pop-up warnings to alert users of printing rules and the environmental impact of their printing choices when attempting to print. Rather than printing indiscriminately, pop-up warnings will remind users to think twice before printing certain documents, like emails or website pages.

Digitize, Whenever Possible

Providing digital copies of documents is a much greener practice than printing hardcopy handouts. When filed and indexed correctly, having digital copies increases your chances of locating documents in the future, rather than having to reprint or, even worse, reproduce them. Document management software can significantly help with your efforts to digitize and meaningfully store your business data.

Double Down on Recycling

Does your office already recycle its paper products and printing consumables? If not, start now! Moreover, look for recycled or certified sustainable paper to print on, and recycle all toner and ink cartridges to boost the impact of your recycling efforts.