26 August 2009 | Uncategorized | kimm

The majority of over 10,000 people participating in a study in 21 countries are self-conscience about the carbon footprint of their printing activities.

Most people don’t know how they can reduce their carbon footprint by making changes to their printing habits. Women appear to be more concerned about the impact of their actions than men. Moreover, more women tend to purchase from a printer manufacturer who claims that they embrace technology recycling.

This information comes from a global survey conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Lexmark International in March and April, 2009.

The report describes that 75% of the participants indicate they feel guilty when printing unnecessary pages. Also, 64 percent INCORRECTLY think that the disposal of ink cartridges is the largest cause of pollution from printing.

Paper or Ink?

Another recent Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study, also sponsored by Lexmark, indicates that the quantity of paper that consumers use in their laser or inkjet printer is the most important contributor to the ‘carbon footprint’ impact.  In fact, the primary step users can take to reduce their carbon footprint is reducing their overall paper usage in printing, by printing only the pages they need, and by using double-sided printing wherever they can.

The great challenge of our time is getting people to become aware of the impact that their daily activities have in the world. The same goes for our global printing behavior, not only because of the cost but also because of the effects on the global environment. Objective information, knowledge, behavior changes, new technologies and recycling play an important role.

Companies like Printer.com can help you make balanced choices when it comes to printers and cartridges. This is an easy way to start reducing your carbon footprint and referring your friends and co-workers can get them moving in the right direction as well.

Souvenir Waste?

Another carbon footprint issue concerns souvenirs.  You may not think about it, but all of those gift shops on your vacation that are stocked with tourist items put a huge impact on the environment.  The items are usually made in a different country and then shipped to the shop only to be sold and finally arrive at its final destination.

Designer Hector Serrano has come up with an ingenious idea intended to reduce the amount of miles souvenirs have to travel, not to mention their shipping and packaging costs.  Instead of purchasing a physical product, you purchase it virtually.  The person who is supposed to receive the gift gets an e-mail that allows them to print a personalized souvenir on a 3D printer.  While still in its infancy, this concept could do wonders to help everyone reduce their carbon footprint and it wouldn’t have to stop with gifts.

What if you needed to send a fossil from Africa to the UK?  If you could do a high resolution scan of the bone, the UK office could print it out in a short period of time.  This would also reduce the chance that the original might be damaged.  Waiting on an out-of-state piece for your architecture presentation?  No worries.  Just send it via e-mail and print it out.  The sky is not only the limit, but also what might be saved in the long run.

>> Find out more about Reduced Carbon Footprint Souvenirs

ABOUT THE SURVEYS: Lexmark’s “State of Printing” survey was conducted from March 12 to April 6, 2009, by Ipsos, and queried 10,507 people age 15 and over who use a computer at home, across 21 countries. There were at least 500 interviews per country, of national representative samples* of the target, in each of the following countries: Austria, Canada, Denmark, USA, France, Australia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, China, Netherlands, Mexico, Norway, Russia, Poland, South Africa, Romania, Turkey, Spain, United Arab Emirates (UAE), U.K.   The LCA study is a “cradle to grave” approach, taking into account all natural resources and energy used to extract the materials in the printer, to manufacture and distribute it to the customer, to use during the lifetime (including paper and cartridge manufacturing, use and disposal), and to recover and recycle the printer at the end of life. Three environmental indicators were chosen as the benchmark including non-renewable resource depletion (fossil and mineral resources), non-renewable primary energy (oil, coal, gas and nuclear), and global warming. The two Lexmark printers involved in the study were the Lexmark X646dte monochrome laser MFP2, which is used in business environments, and the Lexmark X7675 Professional inkjet all-in-one3, which is consumer oriented.