Trees are dying. The fear of deforestation has assaulted our gullible planet. Yet, we cut down trees for our selfish purposes and waste paper for unnecessary printing which could be replaced by e-books or e-documents. Moreover, the futile felling of trees for trivial needs has resulted in a massive negative impact called as global warming. The vast barren lands due to deforestation has resulted in grave problems like soil erosion, loss of the biodiversity and also famines, droughts.
We need to act wisely and take correct decisions to imbibe green-living aspects in our day-to-day practices.
There are several ways wherein you can follow environmentally-friendly techniques:
•Always use recycled paper. Even schools and colleges to encourage the usage of green notebooks.
•If you’re printing, then always prefer both sides.
•Try using digital formats instead of printing on paper.
•Soy-based ink is a good alternative instead of the conventional printing inks.
Green printing is the best way to reduce the considerable loss of trees due to urbanization.
Why the conventional printing needs to be reduced?
•Heavy expenses incurred: The handling of paper requires a huge amount of money especially in the companies where paper production is concerned . Hence, if paper-usage and demand is reduced, these expenses can thereafter be used in some other ways by the company instead of spending it all on paper handling.
• Felling of trees:
It is estimated that an average office uses nearly 10000 sheets of printed paper every day. This is just so startling given that trees are cut just to satisfy man’s momentary needs which are most of the times trivial.
•Heavy usage of energy for printing purposes: The devices like printers and copiers use a lot of energy and can be termed as intensive- energy absorbers.
•Reduce the VOC’s:
Volatile organic compounds are normally found in almost all conventional printing inks. These VOC’s can pose risk to the human health too. Moreover, the devices like printers and copiers also release a lot of these volatile organic compounds. VOC’s can cause health problems like sensory irritation symptoms, nausea, vomiting, nose bleeding, dizziness and also memory impairment. Hence, the usage of these printer-inks needs to be curbed.
Measures that can be taken in corporate offices to inculcate the environmentally friendly techniques in saving paper:
•Print both the sides of the paper!
It’s a natural instinct to print on one side of the paper and leave the other blank. This will only persuade you to waste a lot more pages which is nothing but, futile. You can set the printing option to duplex. This will enable the double-side printing of your paper. Moreover, it will also reduce the number of pages required for the same. If there is no convenient duplex printing option in your printer, then try switching to one that has it. It is better to spend a decent amount on a new printer than settling for something that will just waste your paper, energy and also unfortunately impacts your health.
•Recycle Paper:
Paper is one of the largest solid wastes especially in private companies .These days , most of them use tons of paper and dump it as trash. Instead of that, you can give it for recycling and also use recycled paper for trivial writing purposes.Also, waste paper can be reused in a number of ways. For instance, the old thick sheets of paper can be used in some packaging etc.
Green printing is mostly the printing done in controlled ways. It’s always good to be less reliable on paper for jotting down things and instead you can use digital formats .It saves your ink too.
How do you use green-printing strategies in your corporate offices?
•Printer cartridges that are recycled:
Always try refilling your cartridges than going for brand new ones. In fact, most of the brands that fabricate printing inks even encourage refilling. This is because almost 97% of a printer cartridge can be recycled and used again. So, why spend more money on buying a new one?
•Soy-based inks:
These inks need to be used more often. They don’t compromise on quality and reduce the release of organic compounds like VOC’s that can be termed as harmful. Soy inks are basically produced using the soyabeans.Though they are very slow in drying; the printed papers are then easier to recycle. This is because the soy ink can be removed more effortlessly than the regular conventional inks in the de-inking process.
Going green!
Now that we already know how paper can be strategically used as to reduce the excessive felling of trees , we need to encourage everybody to do the same. Not using paper or going paperless is another way to support the same .Electronic file storage is a method that is quite trending nowadays. This not only makes file storage and access, eco –friendly. But also keeps the entire set of documents and other important file unaltered and intact. Moreover, there is no fear of yellowing of pages or loss of critical documents by any minor cataclysm.
Hence, we need to infuse these environment-friendly ideas in our regular day-to-day life. Doing so, we not only protect ourselves from the excessive release of VOC’s but also the environment. Paper usage has to be mandatorily curbed in offices etc. and digital ideas have to be adopted instead of destroying trees for mere everyday writing.
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