“A survey of 1,000 U.K. office workers has found that efforts to make office paper use more efficient are proceeding sluggishly at best, wasting huge amounts of resources and stymieing IT managers’ attempts to rein in energy and paper use. The survey, conducted by research firm Loudhouse on behalf of Kyocera, found that the average employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year, and as many as 6,800 of those sheets are wasted.
On top of piles of unneeded print jobs, the survey found employees feeling less concerned about the environment and printing more often — a sign that ‘green fatigue’ is taking its toll on participation in environmental and conservation initiatives. Only 68 percent of respondents said they were personally concerned about the environment in this year’s survey, down from a high of 77 percent in 2008. Kyocera and Loudhouse have conducted this study for three of the last four years.
Despite a drop in environmental concern, 70 percent of IT managers surveyed said that their companies could do a better job encouraging workers to print smarter, largely through employee education about the cost benefits of more efficient printing.”
Read more at GreenBiz
nom nom nom nom nom.. Mmm paper.
I try not to eat too much though and I agree with the boffins.. some people are addicted to the stuff. 22 years and I still haven’t got away from it.. Then there’s mum she’s 61. Think it’s high time she gave it up.
Hehe.. no jokes on the environment issues though.. save our world!
I found a printed copy of this page on my desk when I arrived to work.
Last week I was tasked with printing off paper copies of some company intranet guides which were made to replace the original paper files. I wish they’d just get a trained monkey and let me stay home playing Xbox.
They should be happy with that .. stress is lower due to that among other things … Imagine what would happen if people would have to check each step they make.
Also, having it on paper triggers a different mind structure than seeing it digital on screen .. It’s not always so wasted as they state although a few prints here and there might indeed be a waste of paper but most of the time it’s not .. And also, those printed papers that seemingly are a waste quite often contain a person in the back who was not busy wasting companies time but really was busy with his/her job.
Having to waste paper is not alway due to a person’s lacking insight .. there are many factors that force people to print something several times because e.g. the printer fucks up .. the software does not work etc.
If we really really cared, I wouldn’t be receiving menus and catalogues because distribution would be smart, Argos catalogues would be in several volumes targeted to various users. I used to live in Peckham Rye. Half the menus delivered were outside the delivery area. free newspapers were of no local relevance.
In the office. Has the Internet reduced paper usage? No. it has increased it. There is this constant need to have paper back-up, paper for ref, paper to take along.
A few years ago we hammered one photocopier. 1.5 million copies in twelve months. On several occasions the paper burst into flames. Copying and destroying at the same time had a cruel postmodern artwork beauty about it. So I told the maintenance man.
TEN THOUSAND??? WTF?!
I print maybe 10 (ten) pages a year, and most of that could be dropped easily enough. I’ve been working like this for at least the last 5 years and it’s not hard.