Consolidate your copy machines, printers, faxes and scanners into one multi-function device.  Multiple pieces of equipment waste space and electricity.  Most people turn off the power saving functions of their equipment due to inconvenience and long warm up times. Today’s multi-function devices are much more reliable and can actually copy, print and fax at the same time!  Just as important, they take less than a minute to warm up!

Print on recycled paper and recycle your wasted paper.   De-inking and papermaking technology has dramatically changed since the days of low quality recycled paper.     Recycled paper mills used to make dark, speckled, rough-surfaced papers that didn’t print very well.  Today, high quality recycled paper is almost indistinguishable from virgin paper. 

Studies show that 25% of all printed documents are wasted.  Keep an empty paper box next to your printer and place those wasted sheets upside down in the box.  You can then recycle it, use it as scratch paper or even run it through the printer again, on the blank side!

Print on both sides of the page.  Does your printer have the ability to print on both sides of the page automatically?  This feature is called duplexing, and it can cut the amount of paper you use in half!  Check to see if your printer supports duplexing, and set it as your default.

Stop Faxing, start e-mailing.  Faxing is slow, expensive and wastes paper.  Instead, try emailing that document.  Modern multifunction devices have the ability to send that file directly to an e-mail address.  It will go directly to the recipient’s e-mail box as a PDF attachment.

Forward incoming Faxes into your e-mail. There are a number of free web based fax providers that will give you a free phone number and forward all the incoming faxes to your e-mail address.  Newer multifunction devices can be set to forward incoming faxes directly to your e-mail.  So now you don’t have to pay to print all those junk faxes; simply delete them from your inbox.

Print to PDF.  There is a lot of free software that will allow you to print to a PDF instead of wasting paper.  Any time you receive an electronic confirmation, print it to a PDF instead.  The file can be stored on your hard drive and recalled at any time.  You can always print it later, if necessary.

Stop filing all that paper and scan it to your computer instead.  Do you still have rows and rows of filing cabinets?  Do you still print and copy documents just to file them away?  File cabinets waste paper and space in your office.  Scan and file those documents on your computer.  A properly set up digital file cabinet is far more efficient and finding those files is as easy as a web search. 

Back in the 1980’s we all dreamed of the “Paperless Office.”  Reality is that paper consumption has never gone down, and is still going up.  By following these tips, you’ll see a tremendous impact on the amount of wasted resources in your office.