Greening Your Printer
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The approach of Earth Day is another reminder that we all should do what we can to conserve. Saving ink by choosing a more efficient font is a good start, but it’s only the beginning. Here are five more ways you can green your printer.
1. Put it on a surge protector. Even when your printer is turned off, it’s still sucking a tiny amount of electricity off the grid. Turning off the surge protector is just like unplugging your printer as far as the power company is concerned. Also, it just makes sense to have your valuable electronics protected by a surge protector.
2. Don’t print unless you really need to. Use email and online faxing instead of paper whenever possible. The average American office worker goes through 10,000 sheets of paper each year, and those 10,000 sheets take more than a single tree to produce. That’s one tree for each of us, which adds up to a pretty big forest. Only take what you need.
3. And recycle what you do use. Recycling paper is easy. Most towns and cities now have a service which collects paper, aluminum, and plastic for recycling. Find out where the nearest drop-off point is to your office. They may make pickups right at your front door, or in a special bin near your dumpster. You can also use recycled paper, allowing you to recycle on both ends of the print job.
4. When beauty and quality aren’t required, take advantage of “draft” modes and black-and-white printing. This will extend the life of your ink and toner. You can usually find these options by pressing the “Properties” button in the upper right of the window the pops up when you click your printing icon.
5. Use both sides of every page. Some things, like fliers and posters meant to go on walls, really can only use one side of the page. But for almost everything else, printing on the back of the page is perfectly viable. If your printer has an option for it, take advantage of it and cut the amount of paper you use in half.
The great thing about conserving is that it’s not just good for the environment. All of these suggestions will also save you money by cutting down on your printers’ costs of ownership. Being conservation minded is best when it puts more green in your wallet as well as outside your window.
Photo credits: René Ehrhardt, netlancer2006
Jim Spence
April 28th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
Hey! While searching for Blogs about where to recycle inkjet cartridges I found your site g Your Printer | Printer & Ink Toner Reviews & News from Printer.com. Thank you for the effort you have put in.
Taylor Norrish
May 13th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Bob, love your blog! We are on a similar mission.
Would consider adding the PrintFriendly wordpress widget to your blog?
It’s helps people save paper and ink, plus print nicer webpages.
Get the button here: http://www.PrintFriendly.com/Button
Ink Cartridges Review
June 9th, 2009 at 4:14 am
I would love to write and say what a great job you did on this, as you have put a lot of work into it.
Ink Cartridges Review
June 10th, 2009 at 1:38 am
I have just recently started my blog and am really enjoying leaving comments on my favorite blogs
Bookmark for sure.
Ink Cartridges Review
June 10th, 2009 at 3:08 am
Didn’t know about it. Very nice information. Submitted this post to Google News Reader.
Jo
April 7th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
Websites would get more printed from their sites if they were more considerate of the use of printer ink.
It is sad to see inch thick black lines being used on websites. The government sites are the worst for this practice.
james
April 8th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Careful with the surge protector, some printers will do ink cycling when it powers up and could cost you and the environment a lot of ink.
Nichole
April 29th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
Hi, I’m the editor for a newsletter put out by an Educational Service Unit (ESU) in Nebraska. An ESU is a government agency that serves multiple school districts. In honor of “Earth Day” I’m looking for green articles to print in our newsletter. I write a “Tips & Tricks” column and would love to have permission to reprint this blog with full credit to you in our next issue. Would you be willing to give your permission via email? I know this is short notice, but we hope to go to press next week. THANK YOU!
Marietta Goudreau
July 9th, 2010 at 2:42 am
I’m interested in work at home info. Your site is great!