I know that Earth Day is over, but it shouldn't be used as a reason not to become Eco-conscious everyday. We should be living day after day like it's always Earth Day. Like every morning is a fun green day to start a healthy and environment friendly life. It isn't that hard to imagine, then why not bring it to life right?

If each and everyone of us are considering this idea, maybe our problem regarding pollutions, wastes and global warming will finally lessen until such time that they're totally gone. Tree planting is very easy, it also has a lot of good benefits for everyone not only to the environment. You plant a tree, then you have your dose of exercise cause it can be a sweaty task. It filters the air around you especially if it grows older and bigger, also it creates a shade where you can take a break and relax while reading. Those who often waste paper materials should plant a tree at least once a month, but it doesn't mean you can still continue wasting.

Reduce the amount of waste, say you're bins are almost full at the end of the day with all those wastes and trash you throw on it. Then why not try to practice monitoring yourself how frequent do you throw garbage, what are these waste and where did you get them. Analyzing the source of your wastes will tend to reduce the accumulated trashes in your bins. After a week or so try to see if there's any changes on the amount of garbage generated inside each bin.

Turn off the lights! Just like the water from your faucets, if you didn't turn it off, water will still drip from it which will result to high water bills. Appliances and machines that are not in use yet still plugged from an outlet are still consuming energy. If you don't want that power eating vampire in your house or office, make it a habit to unplug all equipments that are not in use.

Speaking of machines, any office or house nowadays has a printer equipment. For one reason, printing became a necessity on our daily lives. There we have the paper works, kids research projects, reports and business files, as well as bills, unless you applied paperless billing that would be good enough. If you're practicing green printing then we don't have to argue, but if you're one from the list of naughty people, perhaps you need to examine yourself. What else can you do for the environment? Use recycled materials, for printing there are less expensive recycled paper products, plus those remanufactured toner cartridges and ink cartridges. Don't opt for it just to save, consider using them to aid on the preservation of natural resources and the protecting the environment.

For this day as we all commemorate the 43rd Earth Day, let's celebrate it by doing a very simple thing for our planet. Go paperless just this once, guess it wouldn't affect that much in your business if instead of printing why not send those files and reports thru email. Turn the printer off and give it a day off just for today. You wouldn't notice it, but our planet would greatly appreciate it if you tried doing it. I mean you can reduce power consumption, hence lowering energy bills, then you can conserve paper materials and inks/toners which you can use for the next few days.

You see, it isn't that bad to keep soft copies of your files, or just send a group email to your co-employees. Reports can also be saved on storage devices then view it anytime you needed. Our goal is to make an action that could bring a total advantage for the environment this Earth Day 2013. In the first place, it's not only for the environment alone, as you might have notice, doing such things can reduce your business or office cost through eliminating the use of printer and similar devices. Additionally, since you halt any printing works, paper materials and power usage may also decrease.

If it can't be help, say you really need to make a print, try to make sure your devices are equipped with recycled consumables such as recycled paper printing materials, remanufactured toner cartridges or ink cartridges whichever your machine requires. Thus, using environment friendly products and supplies can still be considered a better option on promoting sustainability and aids in protecting our environment.

Less energy consumption means less carbon footprint, and reducing the use of paper products means saving a couple of trees from being cut down. It is not as hard as you can imagine, exercise your environmental responsibilities by doing such things for our planet. Who knows, you might have think of a way or probably came up with a solution on how your company or business can permanently eliminate or at least reduce the demand for printing and go paperless in your working environment. Again Happy Earth Day to all of you guys!

Printing Technology affects the environment in several ways and reasons. Just by printing a single page, you consumed energy and paper material, hence releasing carbon footprint as well. According to US EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), an estimated count of 10,00 pages were being printed by office workers alone, per year. Imagine that figure, what more if we also add the approximate annual printouts from all home offices and professional individuals, that can be totally massive.

Everybody makes print, I mean everyone requires printing anything from school works, office materials, personal documents, files and so on. Thus, since it has became a typical thing to do everyday, maybe we should think of more ways to make an efficient and eco-friendly printing solution. Reduce paper, ink and energy usage when printing, that will help you, your business or office to cut the cost of printing in half, while reducing carbon footprint as well.

Do you know that manufacturing paper materials also require water resources? Instead of saying you can save water and trees by conserving paper products, let's put it his way, you are wasting natural resources from land and water with every sheet of paper you worthlessly used. Let me remind you that duplexing or double-sided printing is already developed in most printers nowadays, so might as well use it as often as you could. Also, there's the N-in-1 feature that allows printing several pages of document in a single sheet. These features and more of it are just being neglected by most businesses when they should be applying it instead.

Just like turning the lights off whenever not in use, it also applies to all equipments. Always imply to turn the printer OFF after printing or when it is not needed. Sleep mode which are commonly supported by high-end printers is actually not ideal, because it still consume energy compared to a totally shut down printer.

Reduce your annual printing cost through using recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges, ask your retailer or manufacturer if they're providing such products. Major printer manufacturers in the Print Industry are also recycling empty and used cartridges, so why would you worry about using it. Hewlett Packard as one of the tech giants are proud to promote their company's recycling programs, as well as Lexmark International which globally accepts returned Lexmark toner cartridges for recycling purposes.

Be wise and don't let the technology get between you and saving the environment. Get to manage your printing habits with more efficient and effective ways to cut down annual printing cost, reduce energy and paper consumption, conserve natural resources and of course reduce your carbon footprint.

Anyone who knows Hong Yi? Well, she's a mixed media artist, commonly known as "Red", she can use anything as her medium to create wonderful art works. Featuring her on our blog was truly an awesome treat for all my readers, so without further adieu here's her new masterpiece. It all started when Red accepted HP's challenge to her by using an HP printer, a single ink cartridge particularly the one that comes from Ink Advantage series, and a pack of A4 plain papers about 1500 sheets.

HP was so excited just like all the other people waiting for her creation, and after Red was finally done with her project, everyone was startled with the elegance and simplicity of an astonishing portrait entitled "The Soaring Bird". It was all made through scanning real feathers using the HP Deskjet Ink Advantage 2520HC printer equipped with a single ink cartridge, and printed the scanned images to almost 1500 paper sheets.

With all those thousands of printed pages, laying them out on the floor and playing with it just like a jigsaw puzzle, requires a lot of patience and of course talent. Using stuffs that we regularly use everyday, whether in the office or at home, who would have thought that with just a big creative idea, one could make an astounding work of art. Red's artistic view was truly amazing, I wish I could have the same talent and bright ideas just like her.

HP was so proud to say that Red doesn't encounter any paper jams or clogged print heads while doing all the process of scanning and printing those images. It's like she gave the device a new purpose, that it can't only be use just for printing our office files and documents, school projects, and many more. Honestly it was a noble idea and I commend her a lot for doing such a great job.

Now I'm wondering what to do with my printer later, maybe I'll start first with thinking what portrait should I make. I'm thinking if my printer is ready enough to face my challenge, guess I need to go downtown for some replacement cartridges. Though we are using remanufactured toner cartridges and ink cartridges, I don't think it would matter, as it can match up with OEM products.

Got interested to Hong Yi? Visit her official website to see more of her wonderful jaw dropping works of art : redhongyi

Paper materials as we all know are products of the environment particularly the trees that long been growing from all places around the world. At present, there are these organizations and movements that promote reforestation as well as protecting the trees from illegal loggers. Through these efforts, all the living things thriving in every forest and similar habitats, still manage to live in peace.

It's been a long time ago, and still counting, when paper materials were created from tree pulps and other wood materials. Now the consequences are manifesting, problems with the ozone layer, carbon emission, unpredictable weather, and so on. Only because the number of trees around the world are not enough to filter what needs to be filtered. It's kind of annoying that people already know these things, yet they're not actually exerting efforts that much in order to stop it or at least reduce the effects.

Back to paper materials, before the only way, as I remember, from which papers can be made, was through extracting pulps from trees, processing it and adding chemicals, then there we have it. Of course I won't go into much details about the whole process, it'll take much time telling you everything. But that was before, cause nowadays, paper materials can now be made through different alternative resources, and believe it or not, even rocks/stones can also be a possible source.

Environment friendly companies including EcoSource and ACT came up with such great ideas to utilize all possible resources which can be used for the production of paper materials. Such resources include banana leaf, flax, and garments - they may sound quite unusual but still it works. There's also this plastic-paper material, it's actually a printable material that can be used for printing purposes, and it can even withstand heat that generates from laser printers.

There are so much of them that I want to tell you guys, but as I remember I've made some post related to this topic, about  papers made from rock materials, and many more. Also, I have all these recycling ideas and contents related to conserving paper materials, even hand crafts and fun learning projects that uses paper products. Just feel free to browse my archive.

In addition, Neeha Paper also offers alternative paper products made from real bamboo, cotton and even tortilla, that sounds tasty isn't it, I mean the tortilla paper, just kidding. Propal paper Mill also offers office paper made from sugar canes, suitable for laser printers and everyday use. All these eco-friendly paper materials are great alternative for everyone's daily printing and paper needs.

Also, recycling can be one of the easy way on how we can preserve the natural resources and materials that are typically use for producing paper products. Printing practices can also be altered to a more green and environment friendly where each and everyone in the office can minimize the use of such materials. For a far better printing, use recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges to save your hard earned money and have a greener working environment.

PrintGreen have already featured similar devices like the one I'll be featuring for today's post. However, since there are so much of these wonderful inventions that promotes green and beneficial printing, I'll try to feature them here in this blog as much as they can fit.

Here's another eco-friendly printing buddy that we should look at, the PrePeat printer. Developed by Sanwa Newtec, claimed to be the most ecological friendly printing equipment, although every developer do said that, let's not spoil the moment. Anyway, what makes it distinct among conventional printers, yet somehow similar with some concept printers over the net, is that it requires no ink cartridges nor toner cartridges to print. Additionally, it's said that this device can actually erase the print from the printed material, which aids on the recyclability of the paper.

It isn't the first time that I've heard a printing technology similar to this, while some of what I've read were plain concepts and still remain as one, there are also those fully functional printers that can erase its own prints. Browse my recent posts and you'll find it, as I can't dig in on my archive right now.

How is it possible for a printer to erase it own print? It's simple yet not so plain, there's a thermal head installed on its mechanism and using a special type of paper material, actually it's a plastic paper called Peat Paper. Just like a typical white paper, plain and flat, but when a certain degree of temperature is applied it turns from white to black, hence forming the printout. Now if you're witty enough to figure out how it can erase the print through my explanation, I can applaud you, that's it no incentives nor cash rewards. Well kidding aside, since temperature is the reason why it turns black, then feeding it back to the printer with the reverse process, say cool it, the material turns back to its original state. Simply amazing isn't it?

Considering that the paper material can be reuse, anyone can re-print with the same sheet for over 1,000 times before it reaches its limit. Eliminating the need for printer cartridges can minimize the ecological effects of improperly discarding toners or inks. However, since not everyone can afford to have a printer like this, getting stuck with a conventional printer isn't that bad at all. You can opt for eco friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges to use for your equipment, instead of those high-priced consumables from branded manufactures.

Along with the holy week season, PrintGreen will be dedicating a post for this special occasion. Although not everyone may be commemorating the week of the Lord's Passion, and it's actually not complaisant, I would still like to commit.

Still related to the print industry, let's start our story. Giving credits to our post's main cast, the great Johan Gutenberg, a German goldsmith who first invented and introduced the printing press to Europe. He started the Printing Revolution around the year of 1439, mostly in European countries. His invention played much essence not only in the modern period, it also brought the emergence of none-hand-written books for the masses.

Here's a great historical fact with regards to his invention. The first ever book that was printed using printing press was none other than, the Holy Bible. It was at the same year, around 1450, when Gutenberg was given credit for his invention, when the first batch of the book of the Holy Bible was completed. According to historians, there were about 230 printed copies from which 30 of those were printed on animal skins, while the rest were printed on paper made from rag cotton pulp.

From then on, printing technology spread from Mainz Germany to all the cities in Europe, and all throughout the world. Although such devices before were totally big and bulky, compared to our modern day laser printers and inkjet printers, it is undoubtedly a remarkable start of the printing technology.

Talking about our today's printers, we got tough, elegant-looking, multifunctional laser and ink type printers, but none of them makes a remarkably peculiar mark in the history. Maybe I have never heard of it, if there's any. But using our high-end printer equipments today, we can make a phenomenal printed version of the Holy Bible, considering the wide selection of cartridges available in the market. We can also use eco friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges together with recycled paper materials, and covered it with dried animal skins perhaps. That sounds like a new generation of Johan Gutenberg's Holy Bible book.

Get rid of your paper waste through these simple ways, just make yourself accustomed to it and sooner or later you'll find a big difference in the amount of accumulated paper waste materials. Reducing or cutting down junks and trashes in your home is necessary, cause nobody wants a filthy or messy home to live. But it is also a certain responsibility to clean up and limit your waste in the office.

To practically minimize your waste problem specifically with paper-made materials, there are solutions which you often neglect, yet useful enough. Read the checklist below :

Paper jams can be a common scenario especially if you're not using the right media for each specific printing needs. If you won't change the loaded paper in the printer, then you surely won't get away of the problem. It'll only cause you a bunch of trash and trouble from your equipment. Determining the right type of printer paper will sometimes solve this issue, is it too thin or thick, try to make your own conclusion.

Draft and print test sheets, most of the time we print an initial page of our document to see if it's just perfect enough, while occasionally we run a series of test prints with the machine to check the quality of printout. Thus we accumulate additional paper waste, and instead of recycling those, most of the time they end up filling the trash bins. Have you ever tried shredding those test sheets to use for packaging and keeping fragile office materials? I can hear somebody saying "yeah why not", or "I haven't thought of that", well at least now you realize it.

Actually I could suggest this one at the top most of my list, but naturally people don't think of this solution as often as it should be. Recycling, or reusing, whatever you call it, is a solution that unfortunately employees and individuals oftentimes neglect. Why not take those paper waste at home and let your kids have a nifty project like a collage or a paper mache craft, come to think of it, that sounds like a cheerful family bonding. Plus, you can get their hands away from PSP, computers, tablets, mobile phones and the likes, which turn kids into a lazy ball.

Lastly, if your printer at the office supports duplex (double-sided) printing, then make use of it as much as possible. Printing on both sides of a page will greatly reduce the operating cost of the machine, hence you save money and reduce waste. Also to double your savings, opt for eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges with your printer to create greener and environmentally beneficial printouts.

The feast of Saint Patrick already past, but with all the ideas and news around regarding better printing practices and stuffs like that, going green will never end.

There are so many things that we can talk about with regards to green printing, but let's try to take them one at a time. Focusing on recycled printer products, here's a printer paper named as ECOPET which is made from polyester fiber.

In the collaboration of Teijin and Nisshinbo Postal Chemical Co., using recycled polyester fibers that were taken from used PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, the team successfully created a special kind of printer paper. It's actually similar to typical printer papers that we used, it's just that both have different composition. Other than the said distinction, ECOPET papers are also of the same thickness and texture. What makes it more amazing is that it can't be torn as easy as a typical paper sheet, nor it doesn't fall apart when it gets wet.

If you're wondering how such material can be used for printing, well it's indeed suitable for use in laser printers or you can even draw and write directly on it. It's just like a normal sheet of paper that we've been used to, cutting or pasting its pieces is not a problem either. On top of that, it can also be recycled over and over again just like any typical paper material.

Imagine a printout that can last longer on outdoor purposes, like banners, posters and the likes, well you don't have to worry cause its actually a paper and a sheet of plastic as well. For commercial printing purposes, I think this one is more suitable than literally plastic tarpaulins.

Through this kind of material, it can double the advantage and benefits that any printer user can get when they accompanied it with eco-friendly toner cartridges and ink cartridges. Of course you can still use recycled printer papers if this one is not available in your area, and I don't have any clue on when it will become available.

It's been said that Teijin and Nisshinbo Postal Chemical Co. initially planned to sell the ECOPET paper to printer manufacturing companies and other business users. As soon as a I get an update with regards to this matter, I'll keep you posted here guys.

Monitoring the cost of printing can sometimes become a head-spinning task, not only because it's a bit troublesome to track the expenses, but also the figures you'll see after summing up all the cost. Let alone the personal printers, as the cost it takes to run a personal home printer is way cheaper than running an office printer. Even for small-type businesses that relies heavily on printing, they can accumulate thousands of cost in printing expenses just for a month alone.

What can we do to cut down our cost of printing? If there's a will there's a way right, so better think first that you eagerly want to reduce your expense, and you'll see solutions will pop up from nowhere. Actually, whether you are the boss or just an employee, there are ways from which your office can greatly benefit on reducing printer expenses.

First, in any case let them know that they're actually wasting or not utilizing properly their resources particularly the office supplies. Of-course try to explain the matter on them in a humane manner. Remember that you're trying to let them realize what bad habits should be put into an end, and what are the proper things that should be implemented. Paper materials, energy, as well as the inks/toners that are being consumed in the printing process must be conserve. Now after the preaching part, give emphasis on the benefits of leaning towards green printing practices.

Next, monitor your subordinates. All the explaining and preaching will be worthless if nobody absorbs it. Monitoring your employees behavior and practices is normal, that wouldn't be against any law. See if they really apply what you have told them previously, and that they're gradually improving on practicing green printing. Also, it would help if you try to limit the resources in the office storage rooms, so your employees would think of a way to fit in on what is available.

Another thing to consider is by setting your printer into Eco-mode, I'm not sure if every model of printer in market nowadays supports the said feature, probably there's a great number but not all. Setting your office printer into this mode will let you save toners and inks in the long run, thus cutting down the cost of printing.

Have you tried using alternatives? Compatible or remanufactured, whatever you call it, these are recycled toner cartridges and ink cartridges from third party retailers. There's a common notion that people thought of recycled products are substandard, well they're wrong, over the recent years alternative cartridges have improved in terms of sales and demands. The quality of these eco-friendly printer cartridges are certainly of par with their counterparts, and that isn't surprising.

There are so many ways worth considering to reduce your office and printing expenses. Provided that you already know these solutions and tips, implementing and practicing them would be the essential part. But it's always never too late to change what you've been accustomed especially it will make things better.