Introduction
Sustainable office practices are no longer a competitive advantage—they are essential for your business’s survival. In the wake of climate change, government regulations like the European Green Deal are putting pressure on EU companies to shrink their carbon footprints. In turn, customers are taking a stand, with a growing number of consumers taking sustainability into account when choosing which brands to support.
Companies are responding swiftly: 75% of CEOs in the EU implemented sustainability initiatives in 2024, and two in five say radical change is needed to keep their businesses viable over the next ten years. Sustainability is also becoming a key element of branding and reputation for many companies that have begun offering greater transparency in their green initiatives and reporting.
As a result, the EU has its lowest carbon profile yet, with 75% of electricity generated by CO₂ emissions-free sources like wind and solar in 2024. Still, many companies have a long way to go in meeting ever-increasing customer and regulatory demands to go green. Only a small percentage of organizations have completed implementation activities for 2025, with challenges like complex systems, poor visibility, and staffing capacity standing in the way.
Fortunately, there are simple ways for EU businesses to make great strides towards sustainability goals. An eco-friendly print environment is one of the best ways to get started, helping companies drastically reduce their carbon footprints with less infrastructure and waste.
If your company is seeking impactful, practical, and cost-efficient ways to become more sustainable, follow this three-step guide to sustainable office practices for 2025.
Two in five CEOs say radical change is needed to keep their businesses viable over the next ten years.
Source: PwC
SECTION 1
Create Sustainable Print Practices with AWS
Print server production requires an enormous amount of energy, and running and maintaining these systems requires even more resources. For example, an on-premise server using non-green electricity uses 975 kg CO₂e / year per server, while a cloud server using 100% green electricity uses just 160 kg CO₂e / year per server.
The easy move to cloud-based printers allows businesses to play a key role in the sustainability movement. By eliminating draining and outdated infrastructure, your organisation can lower energy consumption, reduce waste, and promote environmentally friendly digital alternatives to wasteful paper-based processes.
The Benefits of Eliminating Print Servers with AWS
As the world’s most comprehensive cloud platform, AWS offers streamlined print services that reduce your carbon footprint. AWS has utilized 90% renewable energy since 2022 and is committed to reaching 100% renewable energy by 2025.
Lower Energy Consumption
AWS infrastructure is 4.1 times more energy efficient than on-premise data centers and has the potential to reduce your carbon footprint by 99%.
Eliminate Unnecessary Printers
Print servers aren’t the only culprits creating carbon emissions—your printers are, too. A single printer that is simply powered on around the clock emits 169 CO₂e of carbon per year.
Gain clear insights into your print environment and monitor printing usage across your organisation using Vasion Print. See how often each printer is being used, if at all, and eliminate your underutilized printers.
Switching to a cloud-native solution, like Vasion Print, allows you to participate in the AWS movement for a greener future.
SECTION 2
Reduce Paper Waste at Your Organization
The average employee prints 34 pages per day, which emits 6 CO₂e of carbon emissions per printed page. Yet 14% of those pages never get picked up from the printer, resulting in the average company wasting 1,400 pages of paper per employee annually.
How to Cut Back on Print Waste for Employees
Print waste quickly culminates into exceedingly high carbon emissions. Begin by encouraging each employee to contribute to your organisation’s sustainability efforts with these simple ways to cut down on the unnecessary use and waste of paper while reducing costs, too:
- Opt for double-sided printing: When possible, select double-sided prints to use half as many sheets. Your company can even set double-sided printing to be the default printing mode.
- Avoid unnecessary printing: Don’t print from unnecessary applications like Outlook, Gmail, or chat programs. You can often save information or send it electronically.
- Use print preview: Open print preview before you print so you don’t print blank pages or sections of a document that you don’t need.
- Remove large graphics: 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.
- Reduce margins: Before you print, make margins and font sizes smaller on a document. This will make the document shorter.
- Document electronically: Take notes electronically, using software such as Evernote or OneNote, rather than taking notes on sticky notes or notepad paper.
How to Cut Back on Paper Waste at the Enterprise Level
Print waste quickly culminates into exceedingly high carbon emissions. Begin by encouraging each employee to contribute to your organisation’s sustainability efforts with these simple ways to cut down on the unnecessary use and waste of paper while reducing costs, too:
- Secure Release Printing empowers users to send a document to the printer of their choice. The document doesn’t print until the user is at the printer and provides their credentials, reducing forgotten printed papers and increasing flexibility and security.
- Quota Management allows administrators to limit the amount of paper an individual or a team can print. This encourages users to be more intentional in their printing and ensures the company doesn’t go over budget on paper or ink.
- Compliance Monitoring tracks and documents printing activities to 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).
Utilizing Vasion Print helps you reduce your current environmental impact with less infrastructure and waste.
SECTION 3
Implement Digital Alternatives to Printing Processes
If you’re daunted by the logistics of shifting away from printing entirely, don’t stress. There’s no need to completely eliminate printing just because you’ve eliminated your print servers.
According to a QuoCirca report, three-quarters of respondents say they expect to reduce paper consumption by 2025, but 30% still say paper will be important to their business. Rather than an all-or-nothing mindset, opting for a digital alternative to some paper-based processes will still reduce your carbon footprint without alienating yourself from paper altogether.
Three Areas to Start Digitizing First
Printing
Deliver handouts electronically
Identify print jobs (handouts, flyers, SOPs, onboarding documents, etc.) that can be delivered digitally rather than physically through email, chat, or document libraries.
Convert to digital forms
Create digital files for forms, contracts, and invoices rather than printing them.
Storage
Store files virtually
Digitize old physical documents and store them virtually.
Share digital files
Share digital files quickly and securely instead of sharing paper copies.
Edit files digitally
Update, correct, and edit files digitally to ensure a single source of truth without the confusion of creating multiple physical versions.
Workflows
Automate printing workflows
Automate workflows to reduce the amount of paper being printed and reprinted around the office.
Use eSignatures
Sign forms digitally to reduce paper and speed up approval processes.
Unify print management
Unify front- and back-end print management to get a holistic view of where paper is being printed and when to set print quotas.
Digitize and automate processes across your entire organisation seamlessly with the complete Vasion Automate platform.
Eliminate your print servers, reduce your carbon footprint, and make a positive impact.
Experience a more sustainable and affordable way to do business with Vasion Print. Get started by scheduling a conversation today.