Sunday, October 08, 2006

No More Paper, Books, Dirty Looks

Envirowise has released a study claiming that the average office worker uses 50 sheets of paper a day. Furthermore, companies without printing policies continue to increase their paper usage by 20 percent a year. Compounding the problem is the fact that 80 percent of companies don't even know what they spend on paper every year!

However, the bright news is that companies with printing policies can reduce their usage to as low as 15 sheets per day; that's a 70 percent reduction. I have done several baseline studies on printing for firms, and generally you can't get below 3 cents a sheet for black and white printing. It can be much, much more than this, particularly if you own the equipment and have to pay for service. Color printing varies considerably but it is possible to get as low as 12-15 cents per sheet. Printing is similar to energy use is that it is generally considered to be 'free' for all intents and purposes, but an awareness campaign will go a long way towards conservation.

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