'More action needed' to reduce office paper waste

UK businesses need to do more to reduce their paper usage, but too many employees have not received training to allow them use printers in an efficient way.

That's the message from author and broadcaster Penny Poyzer, who explained that most modern printers now offered options for double-sided printing.

She argued that, while introducing measure such as duplex printing is easily achievable, a lack of knowledge among workers about how to do so is hampering efforts to reduce office paper wastage.

"It's been reckoned that about 300 million sheets of paper a day go through just UK offices," Ms Poyzer explained. "If you print both sides, and most modern printers now have this facility which is called a duplex meaning you can print both sides, you're immediately cutting that down to 150 million sheets."

"Eight out of ten people are not properly trained so that means, again, that there is lots and lots of wastage," she added.

Tesco recently claimed that its office sites have recycling more than 93 million sheets of paper as part of a wider drive to reduce their paper use and increase the company's sustainability. ADNFCR-1231-ID-18458787-ADNFCR