1. Monitor your paper usage

 

Setting your printer’s default settings to duplex printing (printing on both sides) is the easiest way to reduce your paper usage. Printing double-side documents and encouraging employees to use one sheet instead of two for print jobs can contribute to a reduction in paper consumption by up to 50 percent. Universal Login Manager and uniFLOW Online Express, two Canon software solutions that come standard with imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices, offer usage-tracking functionality, allowing organizations to put in place individual and department quotas to monitor print usage. The software also enables pull printing, which offers additional environmental and security benefits. With Forced Hold Printing, administrators can enforce Secure Print, which requires a user to physically be at a device to directly release a document to print. Pull printing not only reduces wasted paper, but also wasted toner and energy use.

2. Utilize your office equipment’s energy-saving features.

 

Canon designed their imageRUNNER ADVANCE devices to operate efficiently while helping reduce your environmental footprint.

Remote Shutdown and Weekly Timer

Turning off devices during holidays, over weekends or for any other extended periods when they’re not in use reduces energy consumption. Administrators can program devices to automatically shut down (and turn on) at specified intervals.

 

Sleep Mode

Sleep mode reduces power consumption by temporarily disabling some internal operations on a device. Administrators can specify the time interval until the printer enters Sleep Mode, anytime between 10 seconds (the default setting is one minute) and 240 minutes. They can also set the amount of energy the machine consumes when in sleep mode (“low” or “high”).

 

Motion Sensor/Sleep Recovery Triggers

All Third Generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE models have a motion sensor that reduces the perceived waiting time a device needs to recover from Sleep Mode. The sensor understands intent: it detects when someone is approaching to use the device—time to wake up!—and when someone is just passing by. Administrators can adjust the accuracy for detecting users—for example, when the device is located in a high-traffic area—by changing the sensor’s sensitivity.

3. Take advantage of your equipment’s consumable efficiencies.

 

Most office equipment builds enviro-friendly features into the design, which allows users to minimize waste of things such as staples and toner ink. For example, select Canon imageRUNNER ADVANCE finishers feature Staple-Free Stapling, which binds up to five pages by crimping the documents together. This is more than a time- and space-saving feature. Confusion over whether stapled pages can go in the recycling bin (answer: they can; staples, as well as paper clips, get removed during the recycling process) often means documents end up in the waste basket instead. Eco-stapling helps keep those little bits of metal out of landfills.
 

Most imageRUNNER ADVANCE models support on-the-fly toner bottle replacement. The lock-less design ensures toner bottles are completely consumed prior to replacement; only the door for the toner bottle that needs to be replaced will open, ensuring no toner goes to waste. You’ll also maximize productivity as your press continues to run: a toner buffer between the toner bottle and the developing unit allows for uninterrupted printing while the empty bottle is replaced on the fly.

4. Purchase compatible supplies and discard products responsibly when done with them.

 

When parts and supplies are made for specific machines, users enjoy not only higher-quality output and more efficient operation but also longer equipment life. Canon GENUINE supplies—including paper, toner, inks and consumables—have been tested to guarantee quality at every stage of their life cycles. Canon’s Green Procurement Standard ensures the company finds ways to conserve energy and resources and reduce hazardous substance for every product it manufactures.

 

Canon also offers recycling programs and options for both toner containers and toner cartridges. Up to 97% of materials in a toner cartridge can be reused or recycled.* Collection and recycling initiatives, such as Canon’s Toner Container Collection Program, help reduce the number of print supplies that end up as landfill waste. Canon collects plastic toner and waste toner containers, which are made mainly of plastic materials, making local recycling and energy recovery possible. When local recycling is not an option or no nearby facility accepts #7 plastic, Canon encourages consumers to ship the containers back to them at the company’s expense.

5. Perform an equipment audit.

 

Take stock of every printer, scanner, copier, fax machine and multifunction device in the office. Make note of who uses each piece of equipment and how often—for example, who regularly prints, what they print and how much they print. Consider what makes most sense for your office: using single-function devices or consolidating everything into a single multifunction printer. The wrong equipment—for example, a mid-volume MFP in a low-volume office—unnecessarily increases energy use. Canon has designed single-function and multifunction devices for every size office: small and home offices; medium and large businesses; and enterprise-level operations. Always look for ENERGY STAR® rated equipment; machines with this designation are generally more energy efficient. Canon has qualified nearly 200 of their products since the program’s inception in 1993. And all Third Generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE models qualify for the ENERGY STAR program.

6. Implement Managed Print Services (MPS).

 

Consider outsourcing the management of your print devices to a third party. Canon’s MPS professionals evaluate business processes and technology, and create customized solutions that help organizations reduce their carbon footprint and run more efficiently. Their assessments help determine what equipment and technology fit an organization’s needs so an office doesn’t waste energy running unnecessary or redundant devices. Once an MPS expert understands how printing fits into an organization’s day-to-day business, they implement an action plan that saves energy, reduces paper waste and maximizes recycling efforts.

7. Develop procurement guidelines.

 

Look for products that meet strict eco-label criteria, include energy-saving features and were developed with the entire life cycle in mind. Through their Life Cycle Assessment System, Canon has lowered carbon dioxide emissions by focusing on each stage of a product’s life cycle: ideation, development, manufacturing, transportation, day-to-day use and end-of-life. A life cycle approach also ensures environmental issues don’t get shifted from one stage to another, and that consideration is given to the labour, energy and materials expended during each stage to minimize the resulting emissions to land, air and water.**

 

Every imageRUNNER ADVANCE model incorporates recycled materials and bioplastics made from plant-derived resources. Using plants to produce bio-based plastics temporarily removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Waste materials from end-of-life products get reused in new products; for example, recycled plastic from returned devices gets reincarnated into imageRUNNER ADVANCE printers and the housing of calculators.