Calculate Your Printing Footprint

I love technology. Using the internet as a resource to find interesting things has limitless possibilities. Today I was searching for information on green printing ideas and I happened upon this website that calculates the amount of energy you can save just by using recycled paper for your printing needs. It measures the difference between the two types of papers (recycled and non) in terms of trees, wastewater disposal, solid waste and CO2 emissions saved from entering our environment.

Based on the item and percent of recycled paper you are using in your printing (25, 50, 75 and 100%), it gives you an estimate of how many gallons, trees and BTU’s* you will be saving by using recycle paper.

It is quite extraordinary that it is so easy now to calculate the resources we are using from the environment in a very specific manner. We have the power to make a very direct impact in open and understandable ways.

For instance, if you order 1,000 pieces of letterhead and 500 business cards and use 100% post-consumer recycled paper, you will be saving nearly a fifth of a tree. That may not seem like much, but for nearly no extra cost and with a couple printing orders per year, that can add up quickly.

Using recycled paper for your printing needs is a small step, but if we all begin to change the way we shop, think and act, we can collectively help our environment in a positive way.

Something to think about:

According to the group Environmental Defense, if all of the magazines in the United States were printed with only 10% recycled paper, we could build a fence 1.8 meters high seven times across the US with the wood from the saved trees. Though realistically, it would probably be better to keep those trees rooted to help out the air supply :)

* British Thermal Unit (some technical term for energy)

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