Office Electronics: Handy Facts

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, office equipment is responsible for up to 26 percent of energy use in a typical office building (The Cadmus Group, 2007).

Organizations spend up to 10 percent  of their annual revenues on document production (Hawkins, 2007).

Electronic waste currently comprises up to 5 percent  of U.S. municipal solid waste and is expected to increase by 3-5 percent  annually – nearly three times faster than the overall municipal waste stream (SVTC, 2004).

40 percent  of lead and 70 percent  of heavy metals found in landfills, including mercury and cadmium, originates from discarded computers and other office electronics (SVTC, 2004).

According to the U.S. EPA, ENERGY STAR qualified imaging equipment uses 40 percent  less electricity than average models (EPA, 2006a).

Buying one machine with multiple functions can save over 150 percent  in costs compared to buying several single-function machines (CA, 2006a; EPA, 2006b).

About four million tons of copy paper is consumed annually in the U.S., with the average office worker using about 100 pounds of copy paper per year (Metro, 1999).

Double-sided copying can reduce paper use by up to 40 percent (MSWMCB, 2002a; MSWMCB, 2002b).

Duplexing saved Washington County, Minnesota over 10,000 sheets of paper and $57 in costs in one year, with two printers and 70 employees (MSWMCB, 2002b).

A typical toner cartridge contains: 40 percent  plastic; 40 percent  metal; and 20 percent  rubber, paper, foam, and toner. The plastic takes at least 1,000 years to decompose (ACWMA, 2004).

About 97 percent of toner cartridge components can be reused and recycled (ACWMA, 2004).

Remanufactured toner cartridges save purchasers 30-60 percent on a per copy basis compared to new cartridges (King County, 2008).

King County, Washington, saved $275,000 in one year by purchasing over 3,900 remanufactured cartridges that cost about half the price of new cartridges (King County, 2008).

It often takes up to 30 inkjet cartridges to produce the same output as a single laser printer cartridge (Cornelius, 2007).

Page coverage for color prints is typically higher than for monochrome ones, and the cost of color toner is sometimes 10 times higher than monochrome (Cornelius, 2007).