Print Less, Work Better

Minimizing the volume of paper flying out of your office printer is way environmentally smart, and helps you stay efficient on the job. A couple of easy eco-habits can trim the number of pages stacking up on your desk to a bare minimum. The fewer the sheets you print, the less trees you'll be gobbling up, which is great news for the planet. Plus, with less print-outs to manage at your workplace, you can say goodbye to tedious filing and to rummaging through your desk drawers looking for ?that piece of paper with the thing on it?. Even if you switch from your regular brand to an eco-smarter kind of printer paper, using less reams of the flat, white stuff at work is a total win-win.


Instead of trading memo after memo after memo and draft after draft after draft with your project team at the office, keep your shared documents online. Post what you're all working on through a collaboration site like Zoho? or Google? Docs, or go totally sleek and simple with a Writeboard?. Instead of printing lots of different versions as you make updates, you'll all be able to log on and see the latest version on the internet. It's super-easy to learn how to use online tools for paperless collaboration, and even if you do eventually have to print out copies to share your final version with your supervisors or other colleagues, you'll have saved a ton of paper along the way.


When you're at your desk, instead of jotting down random notes during phone calls on a pad or on a big stack of disposable post-its, try a re-usable solution. If you've got the space, hang up a stylish slate chalkboard at your workstation. You'll feel totally classy, and you'll save paper effortlessly. Alternately, just type your notes during calls into a word processing document. Not only will you save paper, you'll find it easier to search for the info you need later on. When you're getting away from your desk for meetings and conferences, avoid having to print out directions by sending them straight to your mobile device, if you've got one. In general, try to send emails instead of physical letters, memos, or faxes. When email just won't do and you've got to get a fax out, or someone wants to send you one, try an online solution instead of a hands-on fax machine.


When you do print documents, keep the number of pages at a minimum by shrinking your page margins to 0.75 inches or less, and printing on both the fronts and backs of sheets whenever you can. For word processing, check out a font like EverGreen? that's specifically designed to fit more words on your pages, or try opting for a font that's designated as ?narrow? or ?condensed?, so that you can get more text per page. It's also smart to keep your headers and footers as small as possible, since extra white space tends to crop up there. If you're printing a spreadsheet from Excel, try selecting just the cells you need on the page and choosing ?print selection? instead of churning out your whole document.


This post was inspired by Stuff Happens..