Tips for Reducing Office Paper Waste

Within most offices paper is likely to be the largest waste stream.  Although many businesses may operate an office recycling scheme to recycle this paper, there are many simple steps that that can be taken to reduce the volume of paper waste in the first place.  

Do you really need a print out?

One of the main causes of paper waste is often the simple fact that many people print out documents that don’t really need to be printed.  For example, when sending a memo around the office, why not send an email or place a single copy on a notice board, rather than printing out a dozen copies for each person. 

Double-Sided Printing

Although this may not always be practical, such as when printing out important letters, there are many occasions when it would be perfectly acceptable to print documents double sided.  Most modern printers are capable of printing double sided and you can usually set up your computer software to print double sided as default.

Preview documents on screen before printing

How many times have you printed out something and then realised you have made a spelling mistake or put the wrong date?  I know I have been guilty of this in the past.  Although naturally mistakes do happen, it is a good idea to get in the habit of proofreading documents on screen before printing.  By simply viewing the document in print preview mode before printing, you can also quickly see whether there are any problems with the layout. 

Reduce margins, reduce paper waste

By reducing the margins on your documents you are able to get more text per page, which means less paper is used.  Although this might not make much of a difference to each individual document, when you add this up over a period of time it will help to reduce paper waste. 

Look after your equipment

Make sure your office printers and photocopiers are kept in good working order.  By doing this you can not only help to extend the life of the equipment, but you can also help to reduce paper jams, poor quality print-outs, etc.

Educate and encourage your workers

As with setting up an office recycling scheme, it is important that workers are educated and encouraged about the importance and benefits of reducing paper waste.  Make reducing paper waste a vital part of your recycling campaign, and make sure everybody is clear about what is required.   

Reuse waste paper

Encourage employees to get in the habit of reusing paper whenever possible.  Paper that has been printed on only one side can be collected and reused for fax machines, photocopiers or for making notes on.  Trays can be placed around the office to collect this paper to be reused before being sent for recycling.