Printer Costs and the Environment

You can save money and save the planet at the same time
When it comes to printers, a commitment to the environment and a desire to reduce costs are far from contradictory goals. Quite the opposite: fewer disposable components results in lower costs and less waste, and buying an eco-friendly printer will save you money in the long run.
We’re sure you’ve heard the stats about how “E-waste” (that’s waste from electronics) comprises a large and growing part of worldwide landfill. In 2005, the Economist reported that 8% of all municipal landfill in Europe was E-waste, and that E-waste comprises some of the most toxic materials that could be found in the landfill. Reports have ascribed roughly 40% of the lead in landfill to E-waste, and about 70% of the heavy metals in landfill, including toxic chemicals like mercury and cadmium, can be ascribed to E- aste. Printing products, of course, make up a considerable proportion of E-waste.
What you’ve probably not heard so much about is how you can reduce the amount of waste your office produces by using eco-friendly printer designs. It’s not uncommon for business managers to have the misconception that eco-friendliness is at best irrelevant, at worst a burden on the bottom line. When it comes to printing, however, nothing could be further from the truth.
It’s an oft-repeated truism that the cost of feeding a printer, copier or MFD over the course of its lifespan is likely to far exceed the cost of buying it in the first place. In fact, it’s likely that the initial purchase cost of a business printer will represent only a fraction, in some cases as little as 10-15%, of the money spent on that printer over the course of its life. This is often referred to as the “Total Cost of Ownership” or “TCO”. Maintenance, power, toner and management – the ongoing costs of running a printer – are the larger cost elements that are often ignored by printer purchasers.
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