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Annually 500,000,000 m3 of wood is used by the paper industry world-wide (15% of total logging) from which almost 40% is used for coated and uncoated paper*.
Production of typical toner cartridges from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) consume a significant amount of energy (production burns approximately 3 quarts of oil per cartridge) and are composed of various natural resources: approximately 40% plastic, 40% metal and 20% rubber, foam and paper*.
The key environmental impacts of printing consumables and other office stationeries are:
Find out in this section how to reduce your consumption, buy more sustainably and properly recycle.
(*Source: UNEP-DTIE, Sustainable Procurement Guidelines for Office Stationery)
Target a paperless office:
As ink generates hazardous waste and packaging waste, it's important to increase your ink cartridges & toners lifetime:
Some simple practices to follow to decrease your printers energy consumption:
Train your staff on good printing practices and display visible, permanent guidelines nearby printers: implementing good printing practices is possible !
Here are some easy quick-wins to curb your resources consumption during printing:
- Reduce Paper usage by:
- Reduce Ink usage by:
- IT teams can deploy/update relevant laptops masters. By enforcing such masters, employees cannot change some printing settings. This practice can save a lot of resources in the end because it "automatically" enforces a sober mode for printing: two-side mode, Black & White mode, blank pages feature removed ...
- Deploy sign up/check-in processes to prevent people from printing at anytime for anything. If we have to walk to the printer to start the printing job, if we have a quota on printing jobs... we will think twice before printing it!
- Deploy specific printing softwares to monitor printing consumption. We recommend this one from Paper Cut.
Create banners, collaterals, posters... that can be easily reused for other events, advertisement, campaign... or repurposed (e.g. shredded leaflets used as cushion paper for packaging).
If you do not have yet a sustainable procurement policy, see here how to implement one and how to write one here.
• Opt for recycled paper (less fresh pulp from cut-down trees) or upcycled paper (e.g. made from waste). Buy recyclable paper
• Prefer certified products : at least ECF Paper (Elemental Chlorine Free), PCF Paper (Processed Chlorine Free), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). If recycled paper is not available, PEFC-certified (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) paper should be your second choice
• Try to limit paper orders, educate employees, communicate your annual paper consumption volumes and costs to raise awareness on waste and propose improvement plans. See above solutions "Reduce Paper Usage" and "Implement Good Printing Practices".
If you do not have yet a sustainable procurement policy, see here how to implement one and how to write one here.
• Take into account the whole life cycle of your cartridges and toners, from manufacturing to end of product life. Ask your suppliers what are their lowest carbon footprint products.
• Prefer recyclable or biodegradable materials:
Ink cartridges & toners generate wrapping, packaging, electronic waste and hazardous waste. Contract with specialists to recycle.
Under the EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) on e-waste, suppliers of electronic goods must take back old products and send them to a licenced recycler.
Use a suitable contractor for the collection and recycling of paper.
The « sustainability journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
Mary has founded Journey Makers to support organisations in their online presence blending customer experience and employee experience. She was previously in charge of Customer Experience for Lyreco Asia and worked on accelerating Digital and Marketing activities. In 2020, she was appointed sustainability ambassador as well for the region, as the topic was becoming a strategic one for the company. Thriving to drive the change internally and externally, she launched a Green Team that she co-led with her colleague.
Prior to this role, Mary had made her career essentially in the hospitality industry at global and regional role, from trade marketing, sales to Digital marketing. Before moving to Singapore in 2015, she was based in Dubai, UAE and France.
With 17 years of experience in IT across different sectors and industries, Benoit managed a team focusing on project management and IT application support in Singapore. In 2017, he was one of the founders, and later on leader of Credit Agricole CIB's first green team in Singapore. Since 2022, he has started in France a new adventure within Credit Agricole Assurances (CAA) and managed up to 24 people, in software integration team.
Recently, in September 2023, he was promoted to ECODESIGN Coach within CAA. He is creating and deploying a new framework for all projects to add a sustainability dimension to help CAA reduce its environmental impact.
Before joining Chanel, I was General Manager of BSI Singapore for 2.5 years. Prior to joining BSI, I held different job assignments for the international retailer Carrefour. For them, I oversaw Quality, Food Safety and Sustainability in China and then at the Group level.
I spent most of my career working in Asia: in Shanghai, Hong Kong and I have been happily settled in Singapore for 8 years now.
I have a real passion for sustainability and nature conservation and I love to share the knowledge and experience I gained in this field. I am also a volunteer for the Singaporean NGO called Climate Conversation which aims to raise awareness on climate change.
Package Pals is a circular packaging initiative that seeks to extend the life cycle of packaging. We collect used e-commerce packaging from members of the public, distributing it back to businesses seeking eco-friendly, second hand packaging options. There are 7 categories of packaging we collect: poly mailers (<A4),paper envelopes (<A4), plastic wrappers (<A4), bubble wrap, padded envelopes.
Package Pals has worked with multiple large and small businesses, schools, NGOs and governmental organisations since it was started in May 2020. Other than carrying out collection and distribution, we also focus on education and outreach, seeking to educate our 4k-strong audience on packaging waste and other environmental issues, through social media, webinars and other events.
I am Naomi, currently co-founder & director of givvable. I started my career as an Australian diplomat with postings in East Timor, Thailand and Switzerland then moved into private banking where my interest in ESG and sustainability was seeded.
Today my company helps businesses screen and track the sustainability profile of their suppliers to help them achieve their goals and targets.
I run a business called Bright Green where I work with corporates to engage employees in impact projects in the areas of environmental and social impact. I also facilitate sustainability learning programs to educate employees on developing an eco-friendly mindset and high impact actions they can take in their homes and daily lives.
Before founding Bright Green in 2020, I have been working in Project Management, Change Management and Continuous Improvement roles within Human Resources and Recruitment. I love that I get to work with organisations that are making commitments to net-zero and inspire employees to make an impact!
