It’s probably not an exaggeration to say that every office environment in this country would like to reduce waste and printing costs. The cumulative cost of waste is staggering: one recent study shows that the average office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper every year, with 45% of paper printed ending up in the trash. Another study, by Citigroup, shows that if each employee used double-sided copying to conserve just one sheet of paper each week, the savings were worth $700,000 a year!

How do you get your entire organization motivated to reduce waste and costs – and what are the steps involved? Here are some simple, easy-to-implement tips for minimizing what you spend on paper and printing:

Think Before You Print
Not all printing is necessary. Too often copies are made for things like meetings and presentations when the participants would actually prefer to view the documents online. You can make documents online editable, too, so people can view them during and after the meeting and add notes or next steps.

Remind employees, verbally and with friendly signage posted near each printer, to be practical in determining how many copies to make. We recently saw this simply stated sign in a customer’s workplace: “Ask yourself: how many copies do I really need?”

It’s possible, using today’s printer technologies, to allow staff to measure how many copies they make each month. Most are surprised to learn just how much paper they’re actually going through – and with that knowledge they’re more likely to self-regulate the number they’re printing.

Finally, when it comes to distribution lists, review yours regularly to ensure that everyone on it still needs to receive the information being printed.

Going 'laser' is the first step any shopper should look into, as well as, purchasing their laser toner generic and to stock up on paper whenever 'free after rebate' promotions pop up at Staples, Office Depot and the likes.

For our printing purposes as shoppers, I've never understood why anyone would choose an inkjet printer over a laser printer aside from the initial upfront cost of the printer itself.

Going as close to paperless as possible is the best thing for shoppers. Depending on my schedule, there are months when I print nothing and others where it may be five or 10 pages at the most. Those would be either LOAs to be left at a location and/or forms needing to be signed. I pay for some cool technology so getting my money's worth is important