greenUPGRADER » Office+Business

Make Your Printer Ink Last Longer

Becky Striepe — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:35 +0000

If you're trying to live a greener lifestyle, chances are you avoid printing at all costs. Between the energy, the paper, and the ink, printing is not the most eco-friendly thing you can do. Sometimes, though, there are things we have to print out. Maybe it's paperwork for our taxes or something for work where an electronic document just won't do the trick.

If you do have to print, stretching your resources is a great way to green up that process. You probably already know to print on both sides of your paper or maybe you even fish junk mail out of the bin and print on the back of that. But what about the printer ink?

PC World did a study back in 2008 showing that when the "low ink" light comes on on most printers, between 8% and 45% of the ink is still in the cartridge. If people all replace the cartridge when the light comes on, that adds up to a lot of wasted ink! There are a couple of ways that you can waste less and make that printer ink last longer:

Just wait. Head to the store and pick up an ink refill when the "low ink" light comes on, but don't actually replace the cartridge until your print quality starts to suffer.
Shake it up. No, for real. I used to work at a...let's say "frugal"... office, and when our printers would run low on ink, they'd always tell us to shake the cartridge and try again before they'd order a refill. Just be careful - some cartridges will leak if you shake them, so best to do this over a sink or wrap it in a small rag before you shake.

One word of caution: it can be bad for your printer to let it run totally dry of ink, and it would really cancel out your efforts if you had to replace your printer! Once print quality starts to go down, replace the cartridge to avoid damaging your printer.

What do you guys do to conserve at the office? I'd love to hear your tips in the comments!

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by freestockimages

Green Office Inspiration: Atlanta’s Big Nerd Ranch

Becky Striepe — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 12:00:26 +0000

We talk a lot about eco-friendly paper around here. Of course, the greenest paper option is simply to use less paper. Sometimes, that's easier said than done, so I wanted to share an inspiring paper-free solution from a local Atlanta company.

Over at The Big Nerd Ranch they've ditched paper towels completely. Two of my good friends work at the Ranch, including my running partner, Bill. Last week he was telling me about his P towel.

What?

It turns out that each employee at the Ranch has a personal, monogrammed hand towel with the first letter of his last name on it. Since Bill's last name starts with a P, his towel is emblazoned with a P.

Back when Bill started working there, he made a joke about disliking paper towels, and his awesome employers took it to heart. They quit ordering paper towels and switched to reusable hand towels. Just like that! They even keep guest towels on hand so clients can dry off without using disposables.

Cloth Towels By the Numbers

The Ranch launders the monogrammed hand towels, the guest/extra hand towels, the bath towels, bath rugs and kitchen hand towels once a month at the wash, dry, and fold across the street, and it costs around $20/month. They couldn't remember what they were spending previously on paper towels, since they'd made the cloth towel switch at the same time as they moved to a new office. Keep in mind though that the $20/month covers more than just their hand towels.

Let's say 2/3 the bulk of their laundry is reusable towels. That puts them at around $13 each month. If your company is replacing that paper towel roll once a week, they're probably spending around $7 to $10 on paper. That's just $6 more each month to make a big impact!

That doesn't seem too pricey for an office with 16 employees. What do you guys think?

The monogrammed towels cost $14.99 apiece and the guest towels were $20 for a 20 pack. That doesn't strike me as a terrible up front cost, considering that most companies spend quite a bit of cash to get new employees spun up.

Of course, not all companies are as forward-thinking as The Big Nerd Ranch. If your employer isn't into springing for reusable towels, you could always get yourself a PeopleTowel or some other reusable cloth towel to dry your hands.

Have you guys run across any savvy ways to reduce workplace paper waste? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!

Is Recycled Paper the Greenest Option?

Becky Striepe — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 09:30:22 +0000

Do you ever have one of those moments where something you were 100% sure was true turns out to be...not necessarily so true? I had this happen to me just the other day when I was reading about how recycled office paper might not be the most eco-friendly choice.

Recycled Paper vs. Managed Forests

I've written a bit about recycled paper before, from my quest to find 100% recycled paper for our home office to making a straight up case for recycled paper.

While in some situations, 100% recycled paper is still the best choice, according to Heidi Tolliver-Nigro over at Inspired Economist, there are times when recycled paper has a higher carbon footprint than virgin paper. How can that be? Heidi says:

What factors impact the carbon footprint of recycled paper?

transportation of the fiber (distance of the collection center from the recycled mill)

de-inking process

bleaching method and chemicals used

disposal of the de-inking waste (which can be landfilled)

energy use and production inefficiency of many recycled mills (which can often be older plants with less efficient technology)

These, among other factors, can make the carbon footprint of recycled papers double that of papers made from virgin fiber from sustainably managed forests. (They key here is “sustainably managed.”) Especially if the mill is close to the fiber supply, virgin papers can be much kinder on the environment than papers using recovered fiber.

So, if your options are conventional paper or recycled, that 100% recycled paper is still the best option. For office paper, though, it's sounding like tracking down paper from managed forests might actually be the greener option.

Finding Sustainable Office Paper

It turns out that the Double A paper I purchased back in March might actually have been a more eco-friendly option than the recycled options I was looking for. I do wonder how it measures up if you consider that the paper is produced in Australia, and I purchased it in Atlanta, GA.

If you're looking for sustainably-produced paper, you might keep an eye out for the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) seal. You can also look for paper with the Sustainable Forestry Initiative logo. FSC and SFI are both third-party certification programs.

Instead of Recycle, Reduce!

Of course, as the folks over at GreenBiz point out, the greenest option when it comes to office paper is to just plain use less. It might seem like it's hard to reduce, but every little bit counts. If we all use just a little bit less paper, it has a big impact!

For example, this month is crazy for me with festival applications. Traditionally when you apply for a craft market, you print out the application, fill it out, and drop it in the mail along with your check. While some craft markets have marched into the 21st century with online applications, many still rely on snail mail. This year, I've been sending festival organizers my application as an email attachment, offering to mail the check if they don't accept PayPal. So far, no one has asked me to send the paper application.

Is there something like this in your business? What processes that normally rely on paper could you change to be tree free?

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by sbeebe

Is Scotch Pop Up Tape More Wasteful than Regular Tape?

Becky Striepe — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 17:09:00 +0000

Have you guys seen this commercial for Scotch Pop Up Tape? It's basically a tape dispenser that gives you pre-measured pieces of tape, rather than a roll where you tear off pieces as you go:

There's a 30 second version that goes into more detail about how inconvenient it is to use compared to regular tape. Why spend that extra 3 seconds tearing off some pieces of tape in the size you need when you can pull them right from a brightly-colored, plastic dispenser?

I was preparing to slam Scotch for coming up with yet another way to waste plastic, when my husband pointed out that it might not be any more wasteful than regular plastic tape. Scotch Pop Up Tape offers refills just like regular tape does, so you don't have to keep replacing the plastic dispenser.

Since this sort of tape is really just plastic with adhesive on the back, the greenest option is to use as little as possible, or even better none at all.

One area where the Pop Up Tape fails is that the pre-measured strips stop you from being able to decide how much tape you need. Does it really take a 1" piece of plastic tape to finish off a gift or seal a letter? With a conventional dispenser, you can pull off pieces that are just the right size, which should help reduce waste, if you're trying to conserve materials.

That said, I also wonder how many folks use much more tape than they need. For that set, the Pop Up Tape might actually save materials in the end.

Since I fall into the first category, I'll probably stick to my trusty roll of tape and try to use as little as possible at a time.

I started out feeling pretty negative about this product, but now I'm not sure it's any worse than the tape dispenser we're using now. What do you guys think? And while we're at it, do you have any ideas for alternatives to plastic tape?

Why Choose Recycled Paper?

Becky Striepe — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:05:00 +0000

Recycled paper is sometimes trickier to track down than its conventional counterpart. Office supply stores often stock only a limited number of options, and even shopping online for recycled paper can be a little bit cumbersome. Have you ever stood in the aisle at the store thinking it's not worth the trouble?

A Case for Recycled

Conventional paper production is a huge polluter. From destroying virgin forests to contaminating water supplies, making paper is tough on the planet. It takes a ton of energy and resources to create printer paper, notebooks, and all of the other paper products we use every day.

The paper industry does replant trees to replace the ones it cuts down to make paper, but according to the Environmental Defense Fund, that's "not the same thing as preserving forests." Instead, they replace old growth forests with tree plantations. These tree farms lack a forest's biodiversity, meaning they destroy the habitats where native flora and fauna once thrived.

Not only does choosing recycled save forests, it saves water. Recycled paper takes 47% less water to make than virgin paper. According to Gilles L’Hermitte, Sustainability Development Manager at paper manufacturers Arjowiggins Graphic, "You need water to grow the trees, clean the wood, separate out the cellulose from the lignin, turn the pulp into paper, and then steam dry it."

It takes about 30 cubic meters of water to produce a ton of virgin paper pulp and only 9 cubic meters for recycled. That's a huge difference!

Resources

Need some help finding recycled paper to fit your needs? We've got some resources to help you out!

Here are five reasonably priced options for recycled printer paper.
Magazine publishers can check out Futuremark's 90% recycled paper.
For packaging and shipping supplies, Treecycle is an excellent source for recycled alternatives.
While there are lots of ways to repurpose other items for wrapping gifts, if you have your heart set on paper gift wrap, Greenfield Paper has some lovely recycled options.

What are some other paper products that you'd like to replace with recycled alternatives?

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by fionab

Five Reasonably Priced, 100% Recycled Paper Options

Becky Striepe — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:57:11 +0000

So, you've made the switch to recycled toilet paper, and maybe you're even using cloth hankies now. Why not take things a step further and stick to recycled paper for your home or office printer?

Paper for home and office makes up a huge chunk of the wood that's harvested annually. The U.S. alone uses over 26,000 tons of the stuff every single year!

Ideally, we'd never have to print anything out, right? You can pay bills online, file taxes online...so many things that once required a home or office printer have electronic alternatives. Unfortunately, some things just have to be printed out.

We ran out of printer paper last week, and I had a craft show application due that needed to be printed out and mailed in. No sweat! I planned a quick trip to the office supply store to pick up a pack of the next best thing to using no paper: 100% recycled paper.

Well, I thought it would be a quick trip. Instead, it turned into a good 45 minutes agonizing over the less-than-stellar options. The only 100% recycled paper was very expensive resume paper, and that's just not in my budget right now. I ended up buying a pack of Double A paper made from farmed trees and told myself that at least I wasn't killing an old growth forest for printing purposes. Unfortunately, it sounds like farmed trees have their own problems, mostly bio-diversity related.

In the spirit of helping you avoid going through what I did, here are some handy resources for 100% recycled office paper that won't break the bank. You can even find most of these in regular office supply stores!

Staples

Staples carries recycled 8.5" x 11" copy paper for just $8 per ream. Their paper is FSC-certified and endorsed by the Rainforest Alliance. $8 is a bit higher than you'd pay for virgin or 30% recycled but much cheaper than some of the fancier papers I've run across. It seems to be the standard price for recycled paper in brick and mortar locations.

Boise Aspen

It looks like Office Max carries Boise Aspen brand paper, which is handy! This paper is chlorine-free, made from 100% post-consumer content and starts at $8.50 per ream.

New Leaf

Some stores do carry New Leaf paper. In fact, that's the fancy, recycled resume paper that I saw on my trip to the office supply store. It turns out they make regular old printer and copy paper, too. It also goes for $8 a ream, so its' competitive with the Staples store brand and Boise Aspen, if you can find it.

Office Depot

Office Depot's recycled printer paper is acid free and FSC-certified, as well. It starts at $5.89 per ream. Quite a bargain!

Treecycle

The copy and printer paper at Treecycle is a little bit less expensive than most of the others, starting at $7 per ream. The only catch is that you have to order online, which means planning ahead. They offer some really interesting options, like paper made from sugar cane and Domtar Earth Choice, which is made with FSC-certified sustainably harvested wood and endorsed by the Rainforest Alliance. That one is just $5 per ream!

One last tip: if you're planning to hit a store for your paper needs, you might want to call ahead and make sure they stock what you're looking for. The shop I visited was one of these listed above, and they didn't have any 100% recycled printer paper at the location I visited.

Image Credit: Creative Commons photo by easternblot

Is Water the New Carbon?

Samantha Tackeff — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 21:02:35 +0000

I was recently speaking with a friend and entrepreneur who lives in Dubai about the world economy, the state of the environment, and what to do next with my life.

"You have to get into water," he said with complete certainty. "Water will be the overarching challenge of the future," he assured me, "it doesn't matter how you approach it: resource management, public health, corporate strategy- water is where the money will be, and water is where the jobs will be."

Corporate water usage is only one part of the issue, but hopefully one which can make a large difference if properly addressed. This message was echoed this month in State of Green Business Forum, and the accompanying State of Green Business 2009 Report. The report, which covers ten trends in green business, using twenty indicators, gives positive indication that water usage is coming to the forefront of the discussion. In the report, 'Water Intensity', as measured by Gallons consumed per dollar of GDP shows an encouraging reduction in water use in the United States, but of course this is only part of the picture.

At the forum, a panel discussion entitled "Is Water the New Carbon?" was one of the most exciting sessions of the day. Companies are now starting to take a critical look at the "embedded water" that goes into creating their products, (for instance the 634 gallons of water required to produce one hamburger), as part of an effort to become more efficient and save costs, with the added benefit of reducing their impact on the environment.

In their own factories, corporations can make changes to reduce water and energy consumption in their every day operations. Al Halvorsen, the Director of Environmental Sustainability at Frito-Lay discussed his companies efforts to take Casa Grande, an existing plant as far off the grid as possible: "The first goal is to try to minimize the impact on our own operations- trying to get as far off the water grid as possible- in one of our operations. This product alone is us asking how might we operate our business in the next ten, twenty and thirty years when water becomes a scarce economy. "

However, reducing internal operations is only one step of the process. Michael Kobori, Levi's VP of Supply Chain Social and Environmental Responsibility, discussed his companies efforts to reduce water:

After completing a life cycle analysis for their best selling product, they found out that a pair of Levi's 501 jeans uses 3,480 liters of water in it's whole life cycle. That's a lot of water! As they started to break it down, they determined that 49% of all water is used in growing the cotton. 45% is used in home laundering, so there is really only about 6% accounted for in other part, and their piece, the milling, manufacturing, and washing the product at their factories is about 5%.

While Levi's set out to increase the efficiency at their own factories, they also paid attention to their indirect water usage, by looking further up the supply chain, and determining how they can influence water reduction strategies beyond their factories, for both their suppliers and their consumers. Reducing the embedded water in a product requires collective action, with the entire product chain, cooperation from peers across sectors, and the consumer. Among their initiatives, Levi's partnered with Walmart and Tide, to encourage consumers to wash their Levi's in cold water, to reduce both energy usage and money spent.

Jason Morrison, the Director of the Pacific Institute's Economic Globalization and the Environment Program, commended Levi's, noted that: "Levi's is pretty far ahead, as very few companies have given thought to indirect water use, especially through their supply chain." He went on to elaborate his own organizations work to create frameworks to help companies address these issues, which go beyond their own "water footprint".

Addressing indirect issues may be difficult for companies, as these issues may be outside their perceived "sphere of influence", but with large companies like Walmart and Levi's requiring suppliers to adhere to stricter environmental standards, hopefully this will become common practice.

Here is the link again if you would like to watch the video of this session. This, the report, and the other videos from the forum are up for free on the Greenbiz website.