Lexmark and Ipsos survey shows paper waste on the increase

Lexmark and Ipsos survey shows printing use is not in decline in Europe, and more unnecessary printing taking place than ever before

According to Europe-wide research, conducted by Ipsos for Lexmark International, Inc. (NYSE: LXK), the printing solutions provider, the number of pages printed in offices across the continent remains high at 31 pages per employee per day and has changed little in recent years. Also, paper waste has increased from an average of six pages per employee per day to seven from 2007 to 2009. More must be done if European businesses are to continue reducing their paper consumption.

Photograph: Zsuzsanna Kilian

Main results at a glance

• The number of pages printed in the office remains high – 31 pages per employee per day – and has hardly changed compared to 2007.
• Paper waste, the number of pages printed unnecessarily, is rising from an average of six pages per employee per day in 2007 to seven pages today.
The bigger the company size, the higher the average rate of printing per employee.
• Over half of those questioned, 53 percent, believe much paper is printed needlessly in their office.
• Less than one in four respondents (23%) said they were guilty of wasting paper themselves through unnecessary printing – blaming colleagues instead.

Paper consumption remains high

Little has changed in recent years when it comes to European attitudes to printing. The number of pages printed on average by each employee per day stands at 31, similar to research in 2007.

Italy and German workers print the most, averaging 39 and 40 pages per employee per day respectively. Sweden seems to have the most considered approach to printing with each employee producing, on average, just 18 pages per day.

Pages printed per employee per day by country

The research shows that European office workers have little understanding of their own printing behaviour. Better education on how employees approach their printing requirements is needed if they are to remain productive whilst at the same time improving the company’s environmental footprint and cutting costs, when printing in the office.

Lexmark works with companies around the globe, first analysing their print infrastructure and policies and then helping them deploy new managed print services strategies to reduce both fiscal costs and the business’ environmental footprint. Lexmark recommends a four-step approach for companies to begin to realise savings quickly and efficiently:

• Optimise workflow
• Rationalise printing infrastructure
• Control print supplies
• Reduce the environmental impact

“Lexmark has a long, proven track record in many vertical industries because we understand the core value proposition we bring to our clients – helping them to improve performance, reduce costs and the impact on the environment at the same time,” said Mike Rüschenbaum, Lexmark vice president and general manager Europe Middle East and Africa. “This ‘Print Less, Save More’ approach is helping large companies like BASF, Kingfisher, Rhodia and Rexel to manage their print output more efficiently and effectively.”

This need to adapt printing behaviours is particularly noticeable when looking at the different business sectors. The public sector appears to be setting the example with the lowest paper consumption of all industry sectors. Only the services sector shows a drop in the number of pages printed, falling from an average of 36 in 2007 to 33 in 2009.

Just as in 2007, the survey shows company size determines the number of pages printed – the bigger the company, the greater the paper consumption per employee. While larger companies have more trouble controlling their print output, a managed print services deployment can help reduce costs and environmental impact by better managing employees’ printer usage.

Europe’s worst paper waste offenders

While the volume of paper consumption has remained largely unchanged, developments in paper waste are pronounced.

Pages wasted per employee per day by country

In the last two years, the number of unnecessary printouts has increased by one page overall from an average of six to seven pages per employee per day. Thus, it turns out office workers in Europe are still not really aware of the need for printing paper responsibly.

This lack of awareness seems to be most profound among office workers in Italy, Germany, Spain and the UK, with employees producing the highest amount of unnecessary printed pages, compared to their European counterparts. Only France and Sweden are wasting fewer pages per employee than they did in 2007.

Paper waste also varies by company size. People who work in small companies, those with less than 10 people, not only consume the least amount of paper but they also tend to waste less too – 19 percent of their printouts when compared to 21 percent of employees in large firms and 23 percent in mid-sized companies.

It’s not me

An important factor in the increase of paper waste is the perception among European office workers of their own printing behaviour. Overall paper waste increased but only 23 percent (even less than in 2007, 27%) admit they print more unnecessary pages, the others suggesting it’s their colleagues that unnecessarily print.

Employees’ opinion of other employees printing attitudes
(% of those who say people print many pages unnecessarily where they work)

A similar gap between perception and action is evident at country level. European employees see Sweden as the country in which the population takes the environment into account the most when printing documents at their workplace (36% of those mentioned). This number is significantly larger than other countries such as Spain and Italy (cited by 3% and 2%).

Nevertheless, when asked personally if they print unnecessarily, 22 percent of Swedes stated ‘yes’, the same percentage as Spaniards, and only a slight difference to the Italians (19%).

These percentages in the answers suggest that the most environmentally focused countries are the ones where the employees take a harsher judgement on themselves.

UK: The local view

UK figures show that 33 pages were printed per employee per day two years ago, compared to 36 today, and that the pages printed unnecessarily have increased from seven pages to ten.

The UK is seen by 10 percent of other European employees as the country in which the population takes the environment the most into account when printing, a rather good score compared to other the countries researched.

Conclusions

Whilst printing quantities has remained constant in recent years, the amount of paper being wasted through unnecessary printing is rising.

The fact that many employees don’t accept that they unnecessarily print, shows the need for better education of employees so they take ownership of their own printing behaviour. By encouraging staff to print less, firms can gain significant costs savings whilst at the same time improving their environmental footprint.

Methodology

IPSOS conducted the survey with 6,601 employees from ten European countries and the United Arab Emirates in order to evaluate the printing behaviours of employees. The interviews were carried out on the Internet from 23 July to 24 August 2009 with employees from representative samples of each of the following countries: France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Austria, and the United Arab Emirates.