Going Green

Have you been considering ways to make your office more green? On the surface, it may seem like saving with the copier or printer is simple - just print less. But such a surface look would be to miss out on other ways to go green, and save green at the same time!

Consider these ideas to help make your office more green:

1 - Keep it running.

Service calls are an inevitable part of a machine’s life. There’s no way to avoid it; even the best machines need the keen, observant eye of a technician every now and then. Part of being environmentally responsible is knowing, in the immortal words of Kenny Rogers, “when to hold ‘em, and when to fold ‘em”. If your machine is currently meeting your needs, and the frequency of service calls is at a manageable level in regards to limited downtime, then why send your machine to an early date with the landfill? Also, keep in mind that preventive maintenance should not be considered a service call. The maintenance light on your copier is not unlike getting your oil changed in your car – things like drums and feed tires need to be replaced at certain intervals to ensure the maximum life and copy quality of your machine. The balance lies in understanding when your office’s uptime is adversely affected by chronic nagging issues with a copier that needs to be put out to pasture. These types of decisions are best made by the numbers, and not per the advice of, say, a commission-based sales rep. If the machine requires service more than once every 6-8 weeks, NOT including maintenance calls, it may be time to move on. Until then, squeeze every drop of life out of the machine, and keep it from the landfill as long as you reasonably can.

2 - Choose office-grade equipment.

The disposable equipment era is upon us. The allure of purchasing inexpensive, personal-grade machines has proven too much to resist, as evidenced by our local landfills. These personal-grade machines, sold primarily by superstores, are priced to where the repair cost typically exceeds the value of the machine. Thus, the machine gets thrown away, and another hunk of non-biodegradable plastic finds its way into the landfill. Not only is this environmentally irresponsible, it isn't saving offices any money at all. The cost of supplies for personal-grade machines are outrageous compared to office-grade equipment, negating any savings in machine cost within 18 months for the average office. Beyond that cost recovery period, the savings can be exponential, since office-grade machines are designed to last 5 times longer than personal-grade machines. So you can save money, and do your part to help the environment!

3 - Buy Refurbished.

In this economy, there is an abundance of machines that are available on the off-lease market. Many of these machines are repossessions, meaning that the lease did not run full-term before they had to be reclaimed due to non-payment. Many of them are still current models, but don’t be worried if it isn’t; the aftermarket copier industry has an established track record of supporting machines that are discontinued beyond federal requirements. The majority of machines these days are sold more on features than they are on volume capability, meaning that these machines are designed to handle far more volume than they are doing. They were almost always sold with a service plan, meaning that they were well-maintained. In summary, these machines were treated well, underused, and still have plenty of life left in them!
In the right hands, an off-lease digital copier can be restored to like new condition. Most of the repairs needed for off-lease equipment are cosmetic, and by changing out the supplies (drum, developer, etc.), the machine will run like new for as long as a new machine, if it’s well maintained.
In summary, when you are saving a refurbished machine from a premature date with the landfill, you are also preventing another machine from being manufactured. Plus, you are getting a machine that will run as good as new, for a lot less money!

4 - Equip the scan option.

Paper usage is a major concern for offices trying to go green. Having to keep paper files and records not only uses a lot of paper, but it requires a lot of space to store it. That space can be expensive, or at the very least, used for something more productive. Fortunately, there’s an alternative that can reduce your storage space for files and records down to about half the size of a box of cereal (or less): scanning.
The government is starting to provide flexibility to businesses by allowing them to scan files rather than having to keep paper records of everything. Many industries now accept (some even require) scanning as a standard for document storage. But there’s more benefits than just getting rid of file cabinets - on even a simple computer network, your employees can retrieve and transmit data without having to leave their seat. Programs exist that will actually sort documents automatically, by reading and seeking out specific information on the scanned pages (ie invoice number, account name, zip code). Even manual digital document sorting, for more budget-conscious, less automated setups, takes less time than filing papers by hand.
By adding the scan option to your copier, and setting up a document storage system, you can reduce the paper consumption of your office dramatically, reduce the amount of work needed to perform tasks, and save (or make better use of) space in your office. Another win-win!

5 - Use email over fax.

Fax is one of the many outdated mediums that exist in the business world today. The fax should follow the file cabinet as the next thing to leave your office in an effort to go green. However, disposing of the fax as a communications medium isn’t that easy. There are still too many institutions and government agencies that rely on these dinosaurs. However, with some simple habit-changing, you can help expedite its demise.

Now for the environmental impact - faxes waste twice as much paper as other printed functions. Paper is printed to send the document, and paper is used to receive it. The gratuitous printing portion of this equation, along with unnecessary long distance charges and wasted time, have all been made obsolete by email. They are all great reasons to give your fax machine a rest. Just attach the file you wish to send to an email. If you have something on paper you need to send, like a signed document for example, use the scan-to-email function on your copier, which is a standard feature on many current copiers. This way, you’re doing your part, doing it faster, and helping someone else go green by not wasting paper on the other end!

6 – For incoming faxes, equip fax forwarding.

Now we all know and understand that we simply can’t throw away our fax machines in the name of the environment. It’s not that simple. However, there are other ways that we can make the fax process a little bit “greener”, if you will.
If you’ve had the same fax number for a number of years, you know a little something about junk faxes. Junk faxes are one of the biggest ways that offices waste paper.
So what can be done? You can forward your faxes to an email address, so that you can screen faxes before they are printed. Most modern multifunction machines equipped with a fax module has this feature. This also enables you to forward faxes to the appropriate party via email more easily, and wouldn’t even involve leaving your desk! Once again, this is another instance where you’re able to save both paper and time.

If you have any questions about how businessmachines.com can help your office go green and save green, please call or email us.