For the past several years, corporations have been hyping the launch of every new sustainability program, from employee engagement initiatives to operations powered by renewable energy. So 2010 is an exciting year for Green Printer to see the results of these decisions on the shop floor and in the boardroom.

In a very interesting article, Eco-Coach’s Anca Novacovici talks about how corporations like 3M and the Grossman Marketing Group reaped tangible but unexpected gains, savings, and customer praise by choosing the greener path.

“Going green can…fatten up the top line. Grossman Marketing Group, a $30 million marketing manufacturer (sales), decided to spend up to $4,000 each year to ease the strain on the nation’s power grid by buying from renewables-energy “credits” from two California wind farms.Adding 5% to his energy bill didn’t save Grossman money at the time, but it did attract green customers like Google and Green Mountain Coffee. envelopes, which make up 45% of Grossman’s bottom line: It grew 20% in 2007, which is a pretty good return on a $4,000 investment!”

The biggest? “Since 3M instituted water and energy efficiencies, they’ve saved more than a billion dollars,” says Novacovici.

What about the other unexpected income-consuming expense a business may face? Impression. According to the Gartner Group, between 1 and 3 percent of corporate revenue is spent on printing. Seen from another angle, the average employee prints 12,000 pages a year. This can cost a business up to $1,000 per person in toner.

Results from a CitiGroup Environmental Defense Study estimated that the average employee uses 10,000 sheets of paper per year and the actual cost of printing is 13 to 31 times the purchase price of used paper, or between $0.06 and $0.13 per page. At the low end of that range, the average employee printing costs the company $600 per year and at the high end $1,300. A significant portion of this cost goes to pages employees never intended to print. to print. In fact, a study by Lexmark found that an average of 17% of everything was considered waste: pages the user didn’t want.

Consider, too, how our choices in the office contribute or detract from a better quality of life. After all, what good are our lifestyles or even our vacations if we can’t enjoy the forests, clean water and fresh mountain air?

Discouraged already? Start small. The University of Western Australia’s environmental services FAQ page states that “every 100 reams of recycled office paper that is printed double-sided saves two trees, over a tonne of greenhouse gases and almost a cubic meter of landfill space compared to 100 reams of paper that isn’t recycled or double-sided.

Dispelling the myths of green printing We debunked the myths of green printing in the past. Still, the initial investment to start printing in a more sustainable way can be daunting. To newcomers, words like “no chlorine process” and “vegetable inks” sound like gourmet organic food (read: a hit to the corporate account) next to plain old virgin paper. So, we investigate. What exactly makes the cost difference between sustainable and traditional printing processes, paper and inks?

Paul Kuck of TechSoup.org writes a great article and says that “Vegetable-based inks are often priced competitively with petroleum-based ones; carbon-neutral printing is no more expensive than traditional methods; and many papers recycled, TCF and ECF are in fact less expensive than virgin.”

If, particularly as a startup or non-profit, the initial investment to green your marketing and design continues to be more expensive than you previously expected, then Kuck has this very helpful tip: (please provide the following)

1. Consolidate

Instead of running four email campaigns a year, try sending three green campaigns. The positive publicity generated by going green can actually improve response rates, and you’re more likely to get the most out of what you send. Or, offset costs creatively: “Design cross-functional projects, such as auto-mail/program combos, to save on more expensive paper,” Dynamic Graphics suggests in its Printing Green article. “Also, combining projects whenever possible is a good idea; one idea is to print business cards and postcards on the same recycled paper.”

2. Bypass the middleman

Obtaining and managing a print project is not as complicated as it might seem and will help you avoid the high profit margins of graphic designers. Have your designer send you print-ready files, and then work with the print shop to deliver and proof them. Explain that you are a non-profit organization and are trying to save money – many printers will be happy to help you through the process. Alternatively, some designers may even be willing to give up markup when they know they’re supporting a good cause.

3. Share the glory

Another way to offset costs is to ask a provider to participate. Some printers will lower their price if they can put their logo on the part, and many will do so discreetly. Similarly, you can ask one of your sponsors to help cover costs in exchange for a small promotion on the piece.

4. Keep it exclusive

Re-nourish founder and University of Illinois design professor Eric Benson notes that some printers will offer discounts if you bring all (or most) of your business to them. “Choosing a printer to print your literature exclusively can result in a contract that can lower costs the more work you send them,” he said.

Have you been there, done that? For entrepreneurs and business owners who yawn at the cue of another byte of sound “print on both sides,” here are some original tips we found from Neil Tilley.

1. Try scanning and rethinking what you really need to see on paper. Divide documents into two parts: should they be stored or moved around the organization? 2. Consider sending electronic faxes. “If you’re still using analog (phone line) fax machines, you’re printing more than you need. Offered as a feature on most MFPs, e-faxing not only reduces paper , but also reduces telephone transmission costs and the amount of electricity used by a stand-alone fax machine.” 3. Why not electronic forms? “Get rid of pre-printed stationery (such as invoices and letterhead) and replace it with electronic forms. One benefit is that you can quickly make updates without throwing out obsolete documents.”

Another reason to reconsider using paper in the office? More office space for the things that really matter, like a beautiful and spacious entrance area for clients.

David R. Wetzel says that “[paper] Filing systems take up a significant percentage of office space. With less paper used and stored, a business can move to a smaller office. Filing fewer papers also reduces the cost of long-term storage of documents.”

Want to know how much greenhouse gas, trees, and wastewater you can save by using affordable, eco-friendly paper products? Discover and track your organization’s environmental savings today by using our green calculator and using green printing services like brochure printing, postcard printing, poster printing and much more.