How to Reduce Paper Waste at Your Organization

Waste is currently hitting a record high in Europe. Recently in 2021, the European Union (EU) generated 84 million tonnes of packaging waste, 40.3% of which was paper and cardboard. For context, the following highest categories were plastic (19.0%), glass (18.5%), wood (17.1%), and metal (4.9%). That means paper waste was higher than the next two categories of waste combined. 

Cutting back on waste is not only good for the environment but a large part of branding and reputation for many European companies. If you’re looking to reduce waste within your organization, paper waste is an easy place to start making positive changes. Here’s how to get started. 

Easy Ways to Cut Back on Print Waste

To make a difference, each employee needs to make an effort to save paper. Here are some easy ways to cut down on the unnecessary use and waste of paper while simultaneously reducing costs:

• When possible, choose double-sided prints to use half as many sheets. Your company can even set double-sided printing to be the default printing mode. 
• Don’t print from unnecessary applications like Outlook, Gmail, or chat programs. You can often save information or send it electronically. 
• Use print preview before you print so you don’t print blank pages or sections of a document that you don’t need. 
• Before you print, edit the document to delete large, unnecessary graphics, running footers, or other elements that take up space but don’t add to the message. 
• Make margins and font sizes smaller on a document before you print. Doing this will make the document shorter. 
• Take notes electronically, using software such as Evernote or OneNote, rather than taking notes on sticky notes or notepad paper. 
• When you need signatures, use electronic signatures instead of asking people to sign hard copies.

Why Reducing Paper Waste Is Good for the Planet—and Your Bottom Line 

While every individual can take responsible steps to reduce paper waste, your organization can also minimize paper waste on the enterprise level. Many solutions can help cut down on excess printing, which is good for the planet and for your company’s bottom line. 

Vasion Print offers an eco-friendly, effective approach to reducing paper waste while also adding value to other business initiatives. For example, Secure Release Printing empowers users to send a document to the printer of their choice. However, the document does not print until the user is at the printer and provides their credentials. Not only does this process reduce forgotten printed papers and give users more printing flexibility, it also provides better security and prevents stolen data. 

Another feature is Vasion Print’s Quota Management, which allows administrators to limit how much paper an individual or a team can print on. This encourages users to be more intentional in their printing. The company benefits, too, as Quota Management ensures the company doesn’t go over budget on paper, toner, or ink. 

Similarly, the Compliance Monitoring feature can help reduce paper waste while offering additional advantages to your company. By tracking and documenting printing activities, Vasion Print can ensure that only authorized users have access to print certain types of information. This additional level of security cuts down on unnecessary printing increases data security, and helps companies stay more compliant with data privacy laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).