Annually 500,000,000 m3 of wood is used by the paper industry world-wide (15% of total logging) from which almost 40% is used for coated and uncoated paper*.
Production of typical toner cartridges from Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) consume a significant amount of energy (production burns approximately 3 quarts of oil per cartridge) and are composed of various natural resources: approximately 40% plastic, 40% metal and 20% rubber, foam and paper*.
The key environmental impacts of printing consumables and other office stationeries are:
Find out in this section how to reduce your consumption, buy more sustainably and properly recycle.
(*Source: UNEP-DTIE, Sustainable Procurement Guidelines for Office Stationery)
Target a paperless office:
25%
of printed documents are thrown within 5 minutes.
(Ademe - Sept. 2019)
16%
of printed documents are never read.
(Ademe - Sept. 2019)
More tips to minimize waste at the office : Waste minimisation and recycling at work by NEA
As ink generates hazardous waste and packaging waste, it's important to increase your ink cartridges & toners lifetime:
11 per second
11 cartridges are thrown away every second worldwide.
(Energy Central)
Some simple practices to follow to decrease your printers energy consumption:
80%
of a copier's energy is used in "waiting" mode.
(Ademe - Sept. 2019)
Train your staff on good printing practices and display visible, permanent guidelines nearby printers: implementing good printing practices is possible !
Here are some easy quick-wins to curb your resources consumption during printing:
- Reduce Paper usage by:
- Reduce Ink usage by:
- IT teams can deploy/update relevant laptops masters. By enforcing such masters, employees cannot change some printing settings. This practice can save a lot of resources in the end because it "automatically" enforces a sober mode for printing: two-side mode, Black & White mode, blank pages feature removed ...
- Deploy sign up/check-in processes to prevent people from printing at anytime for anything. If we have to walk to the printer to start the printing job, if we have a quota on printing jobs... we will think twice before printing it!
- Deploy specific printing softwares to monitor printing consumption. We recommend this one from Paper Cut.
50 times more
energy is consumed to produce a single sheet of paper than to print a page.
Create banners, collaterals, posters... that can be easily reused for other events, advertisement, campaign... or repurposed (e.g. shredded leaflets used as cushion paper for packaging).
80%
of a product’s environmental impact is determined at the design stage.
(Ellen MacArthur Foundation)
If you do not have yet a sustainable procurement policy, see here how to implement one and how to write one here.
• Opt for recycled paper (less fresh pulp from cut-down trees) or upcycled paper (e.g. made from waste). Buy recyclable paper
• Prefer certified products : at least ECF Paper (Elemental Chlorine Free), PCF Paper (Processed Chlorine Free), FSC (Forest Stewardship Council). If recycled paper is not available, PEFC-certified (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) paper should be your second choice
• Try to limit paper orders, educate employees, communicate your annual paper consumption volumes and costs to raise awareness on waste and propose improvement plans. See above solutions "Reduce Paper Usage" and "Implement Good Printing Practices".
33% less energy
is used to produce recycled paper than virgin paper.
(Conservatree)
17 trees saved
1 ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees.
(Wordatlas)
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Green Prints is an environmental social enterprise that aims to provide the greenest printing solution in Singapore.They believe going green should not incur a premium but should be affordable to everyone.
Their key products include recycled copy paper, sugarcane waste copy paper and namecards, T-shirts made from 100% recycled plastic bottles (via their brand: Plastic Bottle Tees)
The Lyreco Group is a leading European distributor and third largest global distributor of workplace solutions for businesses. The group is present in 25 countries and operates via partnerships in 42 countries. With a turnover of more than 2.2 billion Euros, its results can be attributed to its close partnerships with its customers, outstanding logistics and the ambition that it shares with its 9,000 employees: "Always at your side to make your work life easier".
In Asia, Lyreco has been operating in 5 countries for the past 20 years: Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
They provide Green office products such as paper, pen, notebook, etc. that are falling under their own green tree certification.
The Singapore Green Labelling Scheme (SGLS) was launched in May 1992 to endorse industrial and consumer products that have less undesirable effects on our environment. Administered by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC), the SGLS is the region’s most established ecolabelling scheme with over 3 000 products certified across 28 countries.
The Singapore Green Label acts as a seal of endorsement on the environmentally-friendly claims to prevent the abuse of green-washing. Singapore Green Label certified products have become more marketable and readily accepted by consumers or businesses when making a purchase.
Application for the Singapore Green Label is open to both local and foreign companies.
🌏 What if sustainability became the norm in business, rather than a nice to have? That's our mission: using Technology, we simplify sustainability for organizations by making it more accessible, transparent and measurable.We are building the first wholesale marketplace for sustainable products, connecting verified sustainable suppliers, manufacturers and brands.
✅ For brands, we offer uncompromising accessibility to all the sustainable products you need for your business. TEORRA rigorously vets all suppliers, so you as a buyer have absolute confidence and trust in the sustainable vendors you introduce to your supply chain; all while helping you measure your businesses impact as a result of choosing sustainable products.
✅ For suppliers, we help eliminate competition with conventional products by providing you with a marketplace specifically designed to servicing buyers looking for sustainable options. We make it easy for your business to attract new customers while helping you grow your brand globally.
We help Brands quit plastic: TRULY sustainable packaging sourcing and consultancy
If you do not have yet a sustainable procurement policy, see here how to implement one and how to write one here.
• Take into account the whole life cycle of your cartridges and toners, from manufacturing to end of product life. Ask your suppliers what are their lowest carbon footprint products.
• Prefer recyclable or biodegradable materials:
4 times
remanufactured cartridges can be reused up to 4 times.
(lasercycleusa)
The Lyreco Group is a leading European distributor and third largest global distributor of workplace solutions for businesses. The group is present in 25 countries and operates via partnerships in 42 countries. With a turnover of more than 2.2 billion Euros, its results can be attributed to its close partnerships with its customers, outstanding logistics and the ambition that it shares with its 9,000 employees: "Always at your side to make your work life easier".
In Asia, Lyreco has been operating in 5 countries for the past 20 years: Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.
They provide Green office products such as pens, notebooks, remanufactured ink cartridges & toners etc. that are falling under their own green tree certification.
Lyreco - Ink Cartridges & Toners Green Products
Since 2008, Green Cartridge has been taking part in the conservation and preservation of the environment through waste reduction and recycling of waste materials, particularly printer cartridges.
Green Cartridge claims to allow its customers to save as much as 60% of their printing cost compared to using OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) cartridges.
Besides remanufactured cartridges, they provide printers repair, printers loan, and a buy back scheme for your empties, event in small quantity.
SingInk provide inks bottles to refill cartridges and toners instead of buying new ones.
They cover most of the popular brands.
Ink cartridges & toners generate wrapping, packaging, electronic waste and hazardous waste. Contract with specialists to recycle.
Under the EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) on e-waste, suppliers of electronic goods must take back old products and send them to a licenced recycler.
1.6 KG
1 toner cartridge makes up 1.6 KG of solid waste.
(Green Cartridge)
1,000 years
The solid waste generated by 1 Toner cartridge takes over 1,000 years to completely decompose.
(Green Cartridge)
Since 2008, Green Cartridge has been taking part in the conservation and preservation of the environment through waste reduction and recycling of waste materials, particularly printer cartridges.
Green Cartridge claims to allow its customers to save as much as 60% of their printing cost compared to using OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) cartridges.
Besides remanufactured cartridges, they provide printers repair, printers loan, and a buy back scheme for your empties, event in small quantity.
Use a suitable contractor for the collection and recycling of paper.
75%
of office waste is paper. Only 20% of it is recycled vs 41% at home.
(Ademe Report - Sept. 2019)
5 to 7 times
Paper can be recycled 5 to 7 times.
(Worldatlas)
Taypaper strives to create a better liveable world through recycling.
They offer waste management, recycling (paper specialist) and document shredding + recycling services to clients and workplaces; waste management and recycling services for public and commercial facilities.
ST Paper Resources have more than 20 years of experience as a paper recycling, importer of waste paper and exporter of pre-consumer waste.
The company operates from its 40,000 sqft office and factory with a computerised automated system, consisting of fully automated two-ram balers with the capability to bale up to 50 tons of recyclable material per hour.
Besides collection, recycling and trading, they provide off-site confidential shredding services and a wide range of compactors and specialist containers - request a free audit for your business needs.
Safe. Secure. Stewardship.
We offer:
For e-waste recycling, our focus is on laptops, PC, servers, mobile and other ICT equipment.
The « green journey » may feel overwhelming sometimes, but you are not alone.
Our Buddies have tried, succeeded, failed to implement change in their companies. They share their experience so you can learn, take shortcuts, get inspired and ask questions.
Everybody can become a Buddy and give back to the community; if you are keen, get in touch with us.
Mary has founded Journey Makers to support organisations in their online presence blending customer experience and employee experience. She was previously in charge of Customer Experience for Lyreco Asia and worked on accelerating Digital and Marketing activities. In 2020, she was appointed sustainability ambassador as well for the region, as the topic was becoming a strategic one for the company. Thriving to drive the change internally and externally, she launched a Green Team that she co-led with her colleague.
Prior to this role, Mary had made her career essentially in the hospitality industry at global and regional role, from trade marketing, sales to Digital marketing. Before moving to Singapore in 2015, she was based in Dubai, UAE and France.
With 17 years of experience in IT across different sectors and industries, Benoit managed a team focusing on project management and IT application support in Singapore. In 2017, he was one of the founders, and later on leader of Credit Agricole CIB's first green team in Singapore. Since 2022, he has started in France a new adventure within Credit Agricole Assurances (CAA) and managed up to 24 people, in software integration team.
Recently, in September 2023, he was promoted to ECODESIGN Coach within CAA. He is creating and deploying a new framework for all projects to add a sustainability dimension to help CAA reduce its environmental impact.
Before joining Chanel, I was General Manager of BSI Singapore for 2.5 years. Prior to joining BSI, I held different job assignments for the international retailer Carrefour. For them, I oversaw Quality, Food Safety and Sustainability in China and then at the Group level.
I spent most of my career working in Asia: in Shanghai, Hong Kong and I have been happily settled in Singapore for 8 years now.
I have a real passion for sustainability and nature conservation and I love to share the knowledge and experience I gained in this field. I am also a volunteer for the Singaporean NGO called Climate Conversation which aims to raise awareness on climate change.
Package Pals is a circular packaging initiative that seeks to extend the life cycle of packaging. We collect used e-commerce packaging from members of the public, distributing it back to businesses seeking eco-friendly, second hand packaging options. There are 7 categories of packaging we collect: poly mailers (<A4),paper envelopes (<A4), plastic wrappers (<A4), bubble wrap, padded envelopes.
Package Pals has worked with multiple large and small businesses, schools, NGOs and governmental organisations since it was started in May 2020. Other than carrying out collection and distribution, we also focus on education and outreach, seeking to educate our 4k-strong audience on packaging waste and other environmental issues, through social media, webinars and other events.
I am Naomi, currently co-founder & director of givvable. I started my career as an Australian diplomat with postings in East Timor, Thailand and Switzerland then moved into private banking where my interest in ESG and sustainability was seeded.
Today my company helps businesses screen and track the sustainability profile of their suppliers to help them achieve their goals and targets.
I run a business called Bright Green where I work with corporates to engage employees in impact projects in the areas of environmental and social impact. I also facilitate sustainability learning programs to educate employees on developing an eco-friendly mindset and high impact actions they can take in their homes and daily lives.
Before founding Bright Green in 2020, I have been working in Project Management, Change Management and Continuous Improvement roles within Human Resources and Recruitment. I love that I get to work with organisations that are making commitments to net-zero and inspire employees to make an impact!
