Office Printing: Key Statistics About Paper Waste and Printing Costs

Most areas of your workplace have been modernized, including document management. You rely less on physical documents, but this doesn’t mean they’re obsolete. Printing is still the cornerstone of your marketing and compliance efforts, which is why you should be aware of the essential statistics regarding printed papers.

This article will cover five of those statistics.

What Are the Top Five Stats About Paper Waste and Costs?

Here’s what you should keep in mind about paper waste and related costs as a business owner:

Organizations waste more than 40% of paper printed in their offices every single day.
Enterprises allocate nearly 5% of their income to print-related projects.
Printing is one of the three biggest costs for most organizations. Only payroll and rent are more expensive.
Thanks to various initiatives in the U.S. in 2016, approximately 70% of paper used in offices was recycled.
On average, employees print over 9,500 pages per year. To put this into perspective, tree cutters need to chop down nearly 1.5 trees for every worker annually.

What Do These Facts Mean for Your Business?

Knowing various print-related facts is great, but why should you be aware of these statistics? After all, printing isn’t a major expense in your organization because you rarely use your printers, right?

Well, that might not entirely be the case. Even if you don’t utilize your printers daily, they can still cost you a lot of money if you don’t use them properly. Here are a few examples of how your devices could be a massive cash drain:

One-sided printing where two-sided printing is just fine – Not every document requires one-sided printing. Also known as duplex printing, two-sided prints are perfectly acceptable for most forms of business correspondence. Leave one-sided printing for critical tasks only.
Improper toner storage – Storing your toner correctly is crucial for lowering printing expenses. Exposing the material to sunlight or humidity lowers the quality of the toner. Even worse, it can make the substance go dry, rendering it useless. To keep this from happening, store your products in their original packaging until you use them. Also place them in a dark, dry area.
Unauthorized printing – You may not have brought some staff members up to speed on your printing practices. As a result, they may use your devices irresponsibly and waste a ton of paper. Restrict access to your printers with passwords or other authorization methods to ensure that only trained employees can utilize the machines.
Unnecessary color printing – Like one-sided printing, color prints are typically unnecessary for compliance documents and similar papers. Use black-and-white printing whenever possible to further reduce toner consumption.

Looking to Optimize Your Print Environment?

With all the paper waste that might be affecting your office, it may seem like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel. However, you can make a massive step in the right direction by applying the above tips.

Additionally, there are services to help you optimize your devices. Copylite is your best option. We’re a top-rated provider of aftermarket products that can elevate the functionality of your equipment. Browse our assortment and find your next buy to transform your office and cut costs.