The Three Musketeers

Jessica, Asia, Jamie

Save Paper, Make RPI Greener

We initially want to get three double-sided printers that will be installed in the Union, VCC, and Folsom Library

We want to put a set of guidelines for greener printing on the VCC help desk website

We are going to talk to Professors and explain the benefits of having their students switch to double-sided printing or online submission of work

In addition, we want to talk to the VCC about changing the printed receipts that students receive every time they print

Proposal

We want to get three double-sided printers purchased, one to be placed in the VCC, the Student Union, and the Folsom Library respectively These are the most heavily populated printing

areas so they will get the most use and save more paper

We want the printers that we purchase to be set for double sided printing, not just capable of doing so

The Average price for each printer we are looking to purchase is:Brand:Where to purchase:

Details: Double-Sided Printers

Guidelines for Greener Printing: Double-check work for any mistakes in grammar, information, etc. If a mistake is made only print the page or pages that have a mistake

instead of the entire document Format so that margins are smaller (unless otherwise noted by a

professor) Format the work so that there are no large, unnecessary spaces Use the print preview option, especially when printing from online to

make sure that all pages are needed and none have formatting issues Decrease font size from 12 point to 11 point- this can save a page or

two of paper and ink depending on the length of the paper and is still read easily (more for longer documents/work)

Print only what you need and will use – if you can read it online and do not have to print it, don’t

If you are printing more than one thing from the same format, create one document so that only one receipt is printed and formatting can be adjusted to save wasted space created from having separate documents

Details: Guidelines for Printing

We want to talk to professors and try to convince them to strongly encourage, if not require, student’s papers to be printed double sided

We also want to talk to professors about allowing students to turn things in online instead of a paper copy of their work (for most work)One argument for this is that things do not need

to be printed for comments to be added to them, tablets and apps can be used instead

Also, student work can be all in one place at one time which makes it easier for professors/TAs to keep track of the work that students turn in

Details: Talking to Professors

We propose to change the way that students receive their receipt and separate their work when they printChange receipts to be emailed instead of being printed

as a full page Have the printers print a blank page to separate

students workThese blank pages can then be reloaded and used for

printingPossibly have the RCS id printed on the footers of each

page being printed (however with the other things in place this is not necessary but would help to separate students’ work better than just the blank page)

Details: Receipts From Printing

Save money on paper and ink Paper: half the paper used for double-sided printing and no

full page receipt will reduce the amount paper used Ink: save ink because of getting rid of the full page receipt,

reduction in re-printing of mistakes, and better formatting for students’ work so as to reduce the ink used

Printing friendly guidelines would mean less reprintsLess time wasted on cleaning up in VCC because of the

left behind, unneeded receipts and reprintsThis gives the student workers more time to help students

Satisfaction of doing something good for the environmentPotential for more students to switch to greener printing

and save even more paper

What’s in it for RPI?

Paper waste means loss of trees One ton of uncoated, virgin printing paper uses 24 trees

Emissions from making paper and shipping it around If the US cut office paper use by 10%, it would prevent the

emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases.Recycling paper would save paper, which would save

trees, and would ultimately help reduce emissionsThe paper industry is the third highest emitter of industrial

greenhouse gases (to the air) in the world and the fifth highest emitter of toxic waste (to the water)

1 ton recycled paper saves:24 trees, 7000 gallons of water, 60 pounds of air pollution,

4100 Kilowatt hours of electricityOne page of wasted printing costs $0.06

Environmental Impacts

Getting double sided printers for the Union, VCC, and Folsom Library

Changing the receipts so that each printing job does not waste a full sheet of paper (and ink)

Talking to professors to change the way that students turn in their written work (either double-sided or online)

Putting up guidelines for students to reference to print greenerAlso include ink-friendly guidelines which would save

moneyGetting students to actually use double sided printing

by talking to them and getting them informed

Short-Term Goals

We want this to grow and have a policy in place that whenever new printers are purchased for the campus, they have to be double-sided printers or at least have the capability to be We would like to see more printers bought to be added to or to

replace the printers in residence halls and other places students and faculty often print

If we purchase any printers that require an outside driver for printing, then we want to have those drivers installed into the new laptops for incoming classes and have it available for current students to get for their laptops as well

Make the switch to recycled paper to be used campus wide for all printers

We also want to have a policy for all papers (at least in certain writing-intensive classes) to be: Printed double-sided (or) Turned in online for classes where applicable

Thinking Ahead

Single-sided printing, human error, and full paper printing receipts wastes a lot of paper, we want to change that (at least on a small scale)

Double-sided printers and a better system of separating student work will save paper and make RPI greener

We have short-term goals that are fairly easy to implement and some long-term goals for the school as a whole that this project can be expanded upon if it works at this initial stage

In Conclusion