Good entrepreneurship means thinking about how we can reduce our energy and resource consumption in general.

Protecting the environment is one of the biggest challenges facing anyone using technology, and the printing industry is no exception.

Research by independent analysts Quocirca shows that by 2025, environmental impact will be a top priority for US and UK businesses, with 60% aiming to be neutral by 2060.

Companies implement environmental, social and governance (ESG) systems not only because they want to, but also because they are required to do so by regulations or expected European rules on sustainability reporting for listed companies.

There is also a reputation aspect. A 2021 Deloitte survey found that climate change and the environment are top concerns for millennials, and 60% of millennials and Gen Z feared “business leaders” are not doing enough to protect the environment.

What can you do to ensure your printer fleet contributes to your sustainable printing goals?

Green printing is more than just an exercise on paper

Email footers that tell recipients to “think about the environment before you print” have become a cliché over the past two decades. However, Quocirca research confirms that companies see responsible eco-printing as part of the solution to making their operations more sustainable.

This can mean assessing the impact of the ink or toner used to print, the cartridges themselves, and the energy required to run the printer.

But those are just the most obvious elements. The energy and raw material consumption in the manufacture of these cartridges and the devices themselves as well as the transport costs must also be taken into account. Discarded ink or toner cartridges – or simply neglected hardware – contribute to the increase in e-waste. That’s why printers and cartridges are included in the EU’s Circular Economy Action Plan, which aims to ensure products are repairable, or at least recyclable.

Ask suppliers for information about the resources used to manufacture devices, energy use, carbon emissions, etc. This is a starting point to identify and manage your environmental impact.

Managers must be able to see the problem as a whole. This means they need to be able to track usage and ensure efficiencies at the cartridge, printer and organizational level.

This is where cartridge recycling programs, managed print services and the intelligence built into energy-efficient devices come into play. Equally important are print management services, which give you complete visibility into your print usage so you can troubleshoot unsustainable print behaviors throughout the device lifecycle.

Make the impact of sustainable printing visible

Making printers repairable is a good thing, but organizations also need to be able to monitor printers effectively to catch problems before they occur. You must have access to qualified technicians to perform the repairs. When printers are updated remotely, they can be optimized throughout their lifecycle without the need for an on-site update.

By tracking cartridge and device usage, you can also demonstrate a cost-effectiveness analysis for more targeted waste reduction actions, such as: B. replacing electronic signatures on certain documents and redesigning workflows. This gives you the evidence you need to convince users to print responsibly, for example by using eco-friendly double-sided printing and draft mode.

It also means that consumable management can be streamlined, as ink and toner are only ordered when needed. This prevents them from being ordered, saved and then forgotten over and over again. This raises the question of whether you can easily return used cartridges and whether your supplier offers recycling or remanufacturing to ensure they don’t end up in landfill.

All of this ensures that your sustainability efforts are data-driven, accountable and visible. This is important for printer users, corporate sustainability managers and external stakeholders, from shareholders to environmental groups.

This is a contribution from Frank Deneweth, Managing Director at Brother Belgium. If you want to switch to more sustainable printing, you can click here.