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Each year, the average
U.S. office worker uses about 10,000 sheets of paper.
Every year in the U.S., 85% (4 million tons/96 million trees), of
office paper are thrown away.
Office equipment, including printers, copiers, and multifunction
devices, is the fastest growing use of electricity in U.S.
commercial buildings and among the fastest growing in homes.
Which is Better
for the Environment – Laser Printers or Impact Printers?
Manufacturing line
printers is less harmful to the environment than manufacturing laser
printers. Environmentally harmful chemical processes are used to create the
Organic PhotoConductive (OPC) drum and particle toners needed for laser printing. Some
photoconductive drums in laser printers contain lead, mercury,
cadmium, or selenium.
The life of a line printer far exceeds the life of a laser printer.
This means less electronic waste in our landfills and no resources
needed to make a new printer.
Many laser printers have combined drum and toner mechanisms that
increase waste by not allowing individual replacement of components.
Recent studies on the ultrafine toner particles put into the air by
laser printers suggest that it could be as bad for you as secondhand
smoke. Some toners contain known carcinogenic, mutagenic, and teratogenic substances. Line printers use cloth ribbons which do not
emit particles into the atmosphere.
Each laser printer toner cartridge in a landfill will take more than
10 centuries to decompose. The ribbon cartridges on Printronix line
printers are much smaller than a standard laser toner cartridge.
The photoconductive print drums in laser printers must be kept hot
to work. Energy is wasted when the print drums are kept hot for up
to a half hour after each print session, in case there is more
printing.
Line printers are more reliable, have lower operating costs
(typically 10X lower than laser) and are less sensitive to
environmental conditions than laser printers.
Line printers have a wider print area, which can save energy and
resources by printing less pages.
Line printers can use a
wider variety of paper than laser printers.
How to Reduce
Your Printing Carbon Footprint
Here are some tips for
reducing the environmental impact of your office printers.
Buy Remanufactured or Refurbished Printers – The majority of impact
that any printer makes to the environment is in the manufacturing
process. Purchasing a remanufactured printer saves the environmental
cost of building a new one.
Recycle Paper - Recycling office paper products can greatly reduce
your company’s impact on the environment. According to recent
figures, one ton of paper from recycled pulp saves 17 trees, 3 cubic
yards of landfill space, 7,000 gallons of water, 4,200 kilowatt
hours, 390 gallons of oil, and eliminates 60 pounds of air
pollutants.
Printer Networking: Save resources by sharing printers. Several
computers can use one printer. Network Print Managers, like
Printronix PrintNet, can centrally and remotely manage, organize and
control printers for fewer printers, increased efficiency and faster
response to service issues.
ENERGY STAR® printers
"sleep" or power down when not in use. Printronix printers that
comply with ENERGY STAR® requirements, can cut energy use by 60
percent and may realize additional savings on air conditioning and
maintenance. This has even greater impact on energy use in offices
where printers are left on overnight.
Switch from expensive-to-run laser and inkjet printers to more cost
effective
Printronix line printers.
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