June 20, 2008
21 Ways To Be Greener, More Productive and Cost Efficient With Your Printer
I came across a blog post today on Random Thoughts By Mark Rohde titled "14 Ways To Be Greener, More Productive and Cost Efficient With Your Printer". Mark's Post added added 7 additional steps to the post on Stepcase Lifehack titled "7 Ways to Be Greener and More Productive with your Printer".
Here is their list so far:
- Keep Supplies at the point of use
- Print in "draft" mode to save ink
- Keep a scratch paper tray
- Make your printed documents come out in the proper order
- Use scratch paper by default and print on new paper only when necessary
- Label your printer’s particularities
- Just don't print
- Set your printer to default to multiple pages per side
- Invest in a printer capable of duplexing
- Use a Laser Printer
- Choose a Multifunction Device
- Pause Your Print Que
- Take your print off the printer
- Just Don't Print
Naturally, I have a few more tricks and hints that I would like to add to their lists!
15. Proofread your Documents - If you carefully proofread before you print, you can catch mistakes before any ink is wasted. Imagine printing out a giant batch only to go back and find out you misspelled a word. Run your spell checker and save yourself some time and ink.
16. Use your Print Preview Mode - Before you print, choose the "print preview" function on your printer. this will allow you to view the formatting and verify that the document looks the way it should.
17. Draft Mode - Set your printer default to Draft Mode. The documents will not look as crisp, but they are perfect for everyday use, or for printing out versions of a document as you refine it.
18. Print a Test Page - Before you send that giant. lengthy document to the printer, print one test page to make sure everything looks as it should. Print it on your scratch paper first, THEN print the whole document.
19. Make sure you've used your ENTIRE cartridge before you replace it with a new one - When your printouts become faded, or you see lines in your printing, run your printers cleaning cycle or maintenance utilities. You cartridge may not be empty. You may be amazed just how much life is still in it.
20. Use Remanufactured or Compatible Printer Cartridges - Buy Remanufactured or Compatible printer cartridges from a reputable online store and save up to 75% each time you replace your cartridges.
21. Avoid "Economy Cartridges" - The cartridge that came with your printer might not be the best value when it comes time to replace it. Printer Manufactures often ship a 1/2 full or economy cartridge with your new printer. Assuming that this is the only model number of cartridge that you can use in your printer can cost you BIG TIME. Be sure to check your manual. You may find that you can use another cartridge with as much as 300% more ink for just a few dollars more than that "economy" cartridge.
Follow these steps and put a little "green" in your green.
Filed under Ink Cartridges, Printer Tips, Toner Cartridges by Ink Cartridges
Comments on 21 Ways To Be Greener, More Productive and Cost Efficient With Your Printer »
Great article! Never would have thought these would make all the difference!!
I'd also like to encourage people to invest in printers with as many different cartridges as possible. While this may seem counter-intuitive, combo-cartridges force you to replace all colored inks when perhaps only one is out. Another tip is to invest in a laser printer for black and white prints. While the initial cost is higher, over time you save considerable amounts of money and ink, and, more importantly, on time!
Try refilling your catridge at Walgreens for $10 (black ink) or $15 (color ink). If you use an old cartidge you have lying around, you could have a spare for cheap (and they'll recycle it for you and not charge if it doesn't work).
What great tips! I always remind my daughter to check and double check before printing, but who would have thought that I was "Going green" in the process! I plan on utilizing some of these other tips as well!
Oh, I like this one! Going to print, in draft mode on scrap paper, and pin it up next to our printer, it will serve as a good reminder to be mindful! Thanks for posting this.
What great tips! My whole life I've always been frugal, but I've been trying to be more green lately as well. The two go hand in hand. One thing I've discovered is that a lot of printers have a setting to "print in black and white only," which just uses your black ink tank. Helps avoid having to replace/refill that color cartridge so often, especially if you mostly print documents, thus saving money and the environment.
All of the suggestions are wonderful. I work in an office that definitely not green and it drives me crazy. I continually tell my colleagues to save paper, but their responses are always "how?" I tell them that they don't have to print everything, but that's not enough. The idea I like the best from the above list is the "Use scratch paper by default and print on new paper only when necessary" - I will definitely bring this up to those people in my office and let's hope that my office joins the "green" train! Thanks for your ideas!
These are great tips that make sense, but I don't always remember to use them! I have found that using scratch paper helps a lot, and recently discovered tip #21 by checking out the printer's vendor site. I didn't realize there were cartridges avaiable with more ink. Also, thanks to the poster who recommended trying Walgreen's for ink refills. I'll give that a try.
This is an excellent blog. I am going to forward it to my friends who work in offices. I have printed it and am putting it next to my printer. I do a lot of printing and I am always looking for ways to help the environment.
While I'd like to think some of these are common sense, others are not. We always print on scratch paper around the house, especially when we're doing everyday print jobs. The tip to do the print preview and then print a test page is a good one to remember; I've had documents look alright in the print preview, but then the formatting doesn't print correctly. Good tips for everybody to remember, and great ways to save a little money.
I love this article. I also wanted to add that if you DO happen to print something you didn't mean to, consider recycling the paper. I live in an office complex that lets me add my misprints to their outbound recycling.