Although the Internet was supposed to make reams of paper documents a thing of the past, the business of printing on dead trees is still going strong. And despite the Government Paperwork Elimination Act, government is still a huge user of paper. In an attempt to cut the impacts of printing on all that paper, the California State Government has teamed up with Hewlett Packard on a greener printing program that they say could save an estimated $2 million and cut some 500 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year.
The program couples print cartridge recycling (yawn) with a rewards program that lets participants upgrade their printers to newer, more energy-efficient models as they recycle more.
Incentivizing recycling is a recent trend we’ve seen with companies like RecycleBank, which has garnered impressive adoption rates for its pilot projects. Knowing how to motivate human behavior and make it work for the environment will be key to running a more energy-efficient society. But will HP be able to get civil servants excited enough about recycling toner cartridges to earn them new printers? And will such a small step make much of a difference?
Announced with the Green California Summit and Exposition, the program will start with the Dept. of General Services but HP says it will be available to all California State Offices by the end of the year. While the program’s impact is a small drop in the bucket, it will help contribute to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s executive order to reduce grid-based electricity use in State buildings by 20 percent by 2015.
Providing tools for better and more thorough transparency should be a priority of all companies pushing greener products and services. A carbon-constrained future will definitely require providing the tools to accurately measure the energy cost of printing out all those TPS reports.
Xerox, another paper-based company struggling to adapt to an increasingly paperless world, launched a sustainability calculator for offices last month to help customers keep a tally of the eco-impact of their documents. HP’s program will also provide participants with reports on their contributions but unlike Xerox’s program, it’s not the focus. Too bad. It won’t be until we have more and better tools to measure and track our energy use that we’ll be able to make better energy decisions. Until then, hitting “print all” is just too convenient sometimes.

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