When Johannes Gutenberg became the first European to use movable type in 1439, he could not have imagined his role in the \u201cPrinting Revolution\u201d would have such a lasting impression. Gutenberg hoped to make an efficient, useful product, but has printing become inefficient and wasteful? After more than half of a millennium, we readers should thank Gutenberg for his help, but maybe it\u2019s time to advance the process.<\/p>\n
At Bellevue College, we\u2019re trying to do just that. The quantity of staff, faculty, and students reveals that inefficient printing cost money and damages the environment. For pumping out pages, the biggest culprits are inkjets<\/strong> and desktop<\/strong> printers.<\/p>\n Is inkjet that bad?<\/strong><\/p>\n Purchasing and disposing of inkjet cartridges costs money, adding up to $ 0.22<\/strong> per sheet. Moreover, ink cartridges do not last long, often needing replacement after only a few hundred prints. Not only do inkjets burden the budget, but they damage the environment too. Cartridges end up in the landfill, increasing Bellevue College\u2019s waste stream.<\/p>\n What\u2019s the alternative?<\/strong><\/p>\n Laser printers complete their jobs faster and cost less money in the long-term. The following matrix shows some of their differences.<\/p>\n Annualized Savings between Inkjet and Laser Printers<\/strong><\/p>\n * Numbers taken from averaged Office Depot supply data of Bellevue College. Total Savings excludes taxes, shipping, and indirect factors such as environmental savings.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>What about desktop printers?<\/strong><\/p>\n Faculty and staff consume large quantities of paper, often printing before considering the alternatives. Since desktop printers allow employees to print easily, the number of sheets printed annually is staggering. For example, in 2011 photocopies alone added up to 8,156,214 sheets!<\/strong> Not only do the sheets cost, but the ink, managing, and disposal costs are factored into the total cost for the College.<\/p>\n Does recycling help?<\/strong><\/p>\n Recycling cartridges can help, but ink damages the environment too. Most inks contain hydro-carbons \u2013 a type of ozone pollutant. Greener ink options do not solve the overall impact of paper waste. Additionally, all ink options impact the paper-recycling industry, which reports that ink damages the quality of recycled paper.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a page from Gutenberg and make our printing process more efficient. Learn about new, 21st<\/sup> century alternatives at:<\/p>\n \/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/2011\/01\/18\/tips-for-fulfilling-the-bc-paper-pledge\/<\/a><\/p>\n Gutenberg would be proud.<\/p>\n Written by: Patrick Green, Sustainability Program Coordinator<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Johannes Gutenberg became the first European to use movable type in 1439, he could not have imagined his role in the \u201cPrinting Revolution\u201d would have such a lasting impression. Gutenberg hoped to make an efficient, useful product, but has printing become inefficient and wasteful? After more than half of a millennium, we readers should ...more about Inkjets and Desktops – What\u2019s the cost of that print?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11,26],"tags":[143,176,179],"class_list":["post-3160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-waste","tag-information-resources","tag-personal-printers","tag-printing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7464,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3160\/revisions\/7464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}