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Many companies and organisations are recognising the benefits of a Managed Print Service, both in terms of cost savings and process efficiencies. However, there is a third extremely significant benefit in terms of carbon footprint reduction which is achieved through a number of factors which make up a managed print service.

Newer Equipment

All manufacturer's are under pressure to produce greener equipment, using the latest environmentally friendly methods and maximum amount of recycled material. It means that equipment is getting greener. This starts right the way back at the manufacturing line. For instance Hewlett Packard aim to reduce the effects their products have on the environment throughout the whole supply chain, including manufacturing, technology used, logistics and packaging. With the end result being a machine that also offers highly accredited environmental credentials throughout its operating life.

Power Saving

With newer equipment comes far more efficient energy savings mechanisms within a device. Across any manufacturer, a new – to – old device energy comparison will reveal that the newer device is far more energy efficient when both printing and in standby mode, that is of course relying on the fact that the old device had a standby mode which frequently they would not have one at all.

Consolidated Solution

One of the major focus of any Managed Print Service is a consolidation in the overall number of devices in use. With the idea being to analyse and assess volume and throughput information to ensure only the exact amount and type of devices actually needed for the output in a given area are in use as opposed to the previous method of having no usage evaluation and an unlimited number of devices and power points in use.

Disposal of old equipment

Once the new consolidated solution is in place, manufacturers are legally obligated to dispose of any unused equipment according to the latest WEEE directive. Specific guidelines set out to ensure all manufacturers of electrical goods dispose of them in the most environmentally friendly manner[1].

Automated Toner Alerting

This means toner usage can judged much more accurately and deliveries standardised into a minimal amount of deliveries, often limited to only once or twice a week.

There are many software products available that enable automated toner alerting, the same software also enables automated meter reading. Often manufacturers and dealers have contractually obligated themselves to turn up at customer site each quarter to manually take meter readings - with automated alerting this process, car journey and carbon footprint are all completely removed.

Pull Printing

A real life example of how SafeCom pull printing software has produced significant environmental benefits is found here by looking at Leeds Metropolitan University[2]. Over an initial seven month period, 3,263,714 pages were put into the print system and of that, 967,840 pages were automatically deleted by SafeCom software because they remained uncollected. On top of that users themselves deleted a further 427,056 pages printed in error, as the software generated an awareness amongst users to print more responsibly.

Benefits can include:

Print safely anytime, anywhere
Go to the printer of your choice
Avoid lost documents
Improve mobility
Use the web to delete and retain print jobs

Paper Saving

A Managed Print Service leads to a significant reduction in paper usage, not just through orphan documents and a pull print solution, but also simply by setting the driver to print duplex as standard. Small but significant changes in printing behaviour like this drastically improve the printing culture of organisations, which leads to cost and environmental savings.

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Mike Hallam is Sustainable Business Development Manager of DTP Group's Managed Print & Copy Services Division – DTP were recently awarded the Green Award at 2010 Digital Industry Awards[3] for their work in reducing the Carbon Footprint of the print infrastructure at Leeds Metropolitan University.

[1] http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/legis_en.htm

[2] http://www.dtpgroup.co.uk/casestudies/print-copy/leedsmetropolitanuniversity

[3] http://www.bigchipawards.com/page.asp?id=3312