EUROPE:GOING GREEN – OR ARE THEY ?

Toner News Mobile Forums Toner News Main Forums EUROPE:GOING GREEN – OR ARE THEY ?

Date: Tuesday December 5, 2006 12:43:00 pm
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • Author
    Posts

  • Anonymous
    Inactive

    Offices Going Green – Or are they?
    December 
    2006, New research from Lexmark has revealed that people in Europe who
    have embraced the ‘green revolution’ at home also adopt ‘green’
    practices at work, with a massive 84% saying their behaviour in the
    office is environmentally friendly. The study of over 2 500 office
    workers across Europe reveals that thinking about the environmental
    impact of day to day tasks is fast becoming habitual with 88%
    recognising that printing at work has a big impact on the environment.
    More information below.

    Lexmark Research Reveals Home Environmentalists Go Green at Work
    The
    ‘green’ revolution is truly established across households in Europe
    which is having a ‘knock-on’ positive affect on environmentally sound
    behaviour in the office, according to new research from Lexmark, with a
    massive 84% saying their behaviour in the office is environmentally
    friendly.A new study by the printing solutions provider of over 2 500
    office workers across Europe reveals that thinking about the
    environmental impact of day to day tasks is fast becoming habitual with
    88% recognising that printing at work has a big impact on the
    environment.

    Time for more action
    It
    is clear that office workers are keen to see greener workplaces but
    they also claim that their companies are not helping – 43% claim that
    their company does not care about paper wastage and 41% don’t think
    energy waste is on their employers’ agenda. Lexmark takes its
    responsibility in this area very seriously and is continuing to build
    on several years of environmentally sound practices which include
    worldwide recycling programmes.

    Good intentions
    People
    are getting more paper savvy, with 84% of office workers claiming they
    often read their emails and other documents on screen rather than print
    them.  However only 29% of them use recycled paper to print and just
    28% print double-sided.The research not only looked at paper wastage in
    the office but also the wider issues of energy waste and cartridge
    recycling. Being green is increasingly becoming part of every day
    office life with 81% of office workers claiming they often switch off
    the lights in their office at the end of the day as well as their
    computer and screen to help save energy.  What’s more, over half of
    employees often go even further by switching off the printer (56%) as
    well as the lights in absent colleagues’ offices (53%).When it comes to
    printer cartridges the story is not quite as good – despite 63% of
    office workers saying that empty cartridges are collected by the
    manufacturer for recycling, only 49% dispose of them in the recycling
    collection bin.  What’s more, over one in ten (12%) workers throws the
    empty cartridges straight in the rubbish bin.

    Eco-Professionals
    Lawyers
    are the most conscientious about the environment, with almost 9 out of
    ten (88%) switching their PC’s off at the end of the day. The legal
    profession is also leading the way in office recycling with over two
    thirds (67%) recycling all waste paper, compared to just half (55%) in
    the financial services industry.

    The ‘Green’ Age
    Across
    Europe, it’s the over 50’s who are leading the recycling revolution,
    with almost 1 in 12 (7%) investing in alternative sources of energy at
    home, such as solar and hydro power.  Over two thirds of this age group
    (67%) recycle paper, compared to half (56%) of 18 – 24 year olds.“We at
    Lexmark have internally evaluated the environmental impact of our
    products using a lifecycle analysis methodology. I’m pleased to see
    that the way office workers perceive the environmental impact of
    printing is close to reality, as confirmed by the latest Ipsos
    research,” says Hans Horn, Managing Director of Lexmark South Africa.
    “Indeed this impact is primarily due to paper consumption and then to
    energy waste.He adds: “When it comes to the empty cartridges, there is
    still work to be done in educating people about the impact of their
    choices.  Many office workers believe that reusing cartridges is a way
    to solve the environmental issue.  However, when quality is poor and
    the cartridge yield does not meet expectations, these cartridges are
    discarded anyway.” Horn concludes.

    Research conducted by Ipsos
    1) Between February 20th and March 7th 2006
    Number of interviews: 2,837 employees in France, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Sweden.
    Interview method: phone.

    2) Between July 27th and August 15th 2006
    Number
    of interviews: 4,602 employees in France, Germany, United Kingdom,
    Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium, Poland and the Netherlands.  

    Interview method: online

    3) Between September 4th to September 14th 2006
    Number of interviews: 2,500 employees in France, UK, Germany, Spain, Italy.Interview method: online.

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.