Sustainability: Our Print-Once Policy
Insight: Printing documents used only once is
a waste
The Problem: Waste
Printing using laser printers has a large environmental
impact:
Including not only toner and paper (often bleached using
toxins, or clear-felling forests), but also the shipping,
servicing and purchase of printing devices. And the added
energy to shred or dump the paper once it is used.
A screen copy, especially if the screen is already on
and being used (as is typically the case in corporations), means
that reducing printing reduces environmental impact of
unnecessary printing.
Simply put, why print it if it is used once?
Answer: Print-Once
Print only documents that are not better delivered
electronically if:
a) The document cannot be delivered better electronically
b) Will be used more than once
Documents are printed where they are customised and
confidential to a specific client, and subject to ongoing
discussion.
How Print-Once works
As a first stage, all standard workshop or consulting notes
are posted electronically using an online format.
The notes are in wiki, slide, blog or other interactive
format, online.
New clients or consultants are sent the address, and an
access code.
This has the added advantage, that as new or updated
information becomes available, the online notes are updated, and
re-printing is not necessitated.
If it becomes strategic to print the notes, due to their
repeated use, or to preserve the current version, clients can
choose to print the notes in accordance with their own
environmental or sustainability policy.
Average Savings
Per workshop this saves the energy, on average, of 10,000
sheets of business paper, in terms of trees, carbon and energy.
2thinknow: Innovation through action.
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