University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
IN-3: Innovation 3

Reduced Redundancy

The Campus Information Technology (CIT) department, Purchasing Department, Sustainability Committee and printer/copier vendor undertook a multi-pronged effort to reduce the number of printers and copiers in use on campus and introduce campus print consumers to green printing options.

Print Reduction
Greenprint is program that targets the waste pages that too often result when employees print out web pages, e-mail, spread sheets and other documents. On e-mails, typical culprits are lengthy address headers or multiple replies. On web printouts, it can be banners, footnote info, or image-intensive pages that consume extra reams of paper and costly toner. The software’s insistent “Print Preview” prompts users to delete unnecessary pages, images, or text. Pages with less than five lines of text are automatically deselected. The program displays a running tally of how many pages have been saved, in dollars and cents. Statistics on total pages, trees saved and greenhouse gases not emitted are also displayed.

Transition to 100% Recycled Paper and Remanufactured Toner
Pilot tests were conducted in a number of printers typically found across campus for potential conversion to 100 percent recycled content paper and remanufactured/recycled toner cartridges. While campus was already using 30 percent recycled paper, and some users were using recycled cartridges, there was a misperception that there were quality issues with both of these products. While true at one point in the past, quality issues have been largely eliminated. Tests were conducted to see if the 100 percent recycled paper resulted in clogging up printers with excess paper dust as well as to examine potential impacts on print quality. Test results showed that while there was a bit more paper dust generated, it could easily be managed with a preventive maintenance cleaning program. Print quality was acceptable with the exception of heavily ink covered sheets which showed some bleed through. Both of these were determined to be acceptable parameters.

Expanding Use of Multifunction Devices
The second initiative focused on replacing existing printers, copiers, scanners and faxes that are present in varying numbers and combinations in individual offices with a multi-function device (MFD) that could perform all of these services in a single machine while serving multiple users simultaneously from a central location. An in-depth pilot program involved mapping an entire administrative floor, determining existing machines, getting Kill-a-Watt readings on a sample of those existing machines, determining the carbon footprint for those machines, talking with staff on needs, determining current workloads on the existing machines, conducting cost/benefit analysis, determining the location and type of MFD appropriate for existing workflows, determining a per copy price for the new machine, and finally, presenting results and recommendations of the analysis to employees in the area. An analysis format was developed by Purchasing and CIT where a team will go into a particular office/departmental area and conduct a needs analysis to assure campus departments have updated, sustainable office technology.