Printing & Imaging Blog

According to a survey by Xerox created to measure environmental consciousness in the business world, almost 40 percent of U.S. respondents said their greatest environmental irritation stems from seeing someone mindlessly print a job that results in pages abandoned at the printer. Paper and consumables waste was more disturbing even lights left burning in unused offices, the study said.

Respondents identified other pet printing and imaging peeves, including people producing single-sided jobs when duplexing was appropriate, creating too many cover sheets when faxing or printing, and company policies calling for storing paper copies of electronic files.

The research identified lessons useful to solution providers. "This survey found, it takes a few small steps to make a big difference,” Patricia A. Calkins, vice president of Environment, Health and Safety at Xerox said in a statement. “Step number one: use the technology available in the office to cut back on paper use, reduce waste and reduce energy consumption. That can mean simply setting the office printers to default to two-sided printing, which cuts office paper use in half. Or, replace single function printers and copiers with multifunction systems, decreasing energy use."

The survey also revealed some interesting gender- and age-related insights when it comes to environmental concerns. Ninety-one percent of U.S. women respondents consider themselves more eco-conscious than their male counterparts (86 percent of the men saw themselves as being more eco-aware). Twenty-seven percent of U.S. workers aged 18-34 considered themselves "extremely" or "very green," while only 17 percent of employees aged 35-44 used those terms to describe themselves.