25 Jul The Environmental Impact of Wide Format Printing and How to Reduce It
Many industries rely on wide format printing to serve clients and fulfill customer orders as well as print specialized marketing or promotional materials for their own business. However, this printing method has a huge environmental impact that can increase your carbon footprint and contribute to global warming.
At Arizona Business Equipment, we are committed to staying at the forefront of industry trends and advancements in business and office equipment in Arizona, particularly eco-friendly innovation. We can help you find environmentally friendly and sustainable ways to reduce the environmental impact of using a large printer or wide format printer.
How Does Wide Format Printing Affect the Environment?
Wide format printers require high energy consumption, generate a lot of waste, and utilize harmful chemicals:
- Energy Consumption – Wide format printers require a lot of electricity to operate, and the higher your project volume, the more energy you’re consuming.
- Waste – Wide format printing projects also have the potential to produce a high volume of waste, particularly paper, ink, cartridges, and packaging.
- Harmful Chemicals – The wide format printing process uses harmful chemicals like inks, solvents, and cleaning solutions that can harm the environment.
- Non-sustainable Materials – Some of the materials used in the printing process, such as vinyl and treated paper, are sourced in non-sustainable ways that could contribute to deforestation.
How to Reduce Your Environmental Impact
To reduce your environmental impact while using wide format printers, you will have to commit to making long-term changes to how your business operates. While this may be challenging and take some time to get used to, the end result will be that your company will be more eco-friendly and sustainable:
- Invest in highly efficient office equipment, including large printers or wide format printers that offer automatic power management settings.
- Use recycled, eco-friendly, biodegradable, or sustainably sourced paper and printing materials.
- Purchase eco-friendly water soluble inks.
- Commit to recycling paper, ink cartridges, and packaging when possible.
- Reduce the number of draft copies you print.
- Utilize more eco-friendly finishing options.
- Consider digital distribution rather than printing draft copies for approval.
- Ensure your clients understand the value of committing to more sustainable printing options.
- Schedule regular preventive maintenance to ensure your equipment is functioning as efficiently as possible.
How Arizona Business Equipment Can Help
Our sales team has decades of experience in the office equipment industry. We can help you choose the best equipment and supplies to use if you want to make a commitment to sustainability. We can provide guidance in helping you choose the most energy-efficient and eco-friendly scanner, copier, large printer, or wide format printer for your office.
Our printer and copier leases include tech support, maintenance, and repairs. We ensure your printer and copier are well-maintained so that they are less likely to waste resources or become inefficient. To explore your options for office equipment rentals or a wide format printer lease in Tucson or elsewhere in southern Arizona, call us at (520) 888-2679 or contact us online.