Adopting eco-friendly printing practices and using supplies wisely can help to mitigate the negative environmental impacts of printing.
Over 350 million printing supplies, such as ink and toner cartridges, are discarded into North American landfills each year, and can take from 450 to 1,000 years to decompose. Producing ink cartridges is also very energy intensive. Manufacturing a single new ink cartridge uses approximately one litre of oil.
When printing, use sustainable practices such as printing documents only when necessary, printing on both sides of the paper, or on the back of used office paper. You can also help to reduce your environmental impact by purchasing ink and toner cartridges that are easily recyclable and refillable.
- Xerox multi-functional printing devices, since toner is:
- More efficient and cost-effective vs. ink printers and cartridges
- Easily recyclable. Register your department for the Xerox Ink and Toner Recycling Program
- Xerox solid ink printers, which do not require cartridges and produce less packaging waste
- Printing devices with double-sided printing and energy efficiency capabilities, and default settings
- Eco-friendly practices like double-sided printing, digital file storage, and only printing when necessary
- Desktop printer ink, which is less efficient and has a bigger environmental footprint per page compared to toner
If you must purchase desktop ink, select:
- Re-manufactured cartridges
- Refillable and recyclable cartridges accepted in take-back, trade-in, or other recycling programs
- Soy, vegetable and low VOC-based inks
