Paper Savings

June 4, 2009

The MELG building has made significant improvements in reducing unnecessary use of lighting and other electricity-users. Now, it's time to focus harder on PAPER WASTE. Every sheet costs the budget as well as the planet and there are simple steps you can take to make big differences over time.

• Don't print out emails unless you have to.
  If it's just something you're going to read, then discard/recycle, consider reading on screen or printing it on scrap.

• Print double-sided any time you can.
  Make a habit of thinking double-sided on materials, especially on big jobs like presentations and meeting packets (and don't forget, PowerPoint can print multiple slides per page).

• Print on scrap paper whenever possible.
  Load blank-sided scrap in a secondary tray and use that feature for nonarchival printing.

• Save archives digitally instead of on paper.
  This not only reduces waste but saves physical storage space and becomes digitally searchable by name, date, etc.

• Consider "paperless meetings."
  It's already been successful in many venues. Make presentation material available digitally, and let participants print their own materials. This distributes printing costs and eliminates the over-run on printing that speakers/coordinators do for unknown participant turnout.