The University of Toronto Libraries are going green thanks to a paper conservation program that has the potential to save over half a million sheets of paper annually. The Sustainability Office launched a pilot project in fall 2009 that set public printers to double-side print by default amid a complementary awareness campaign on paper waste.
During the pilot project the number of sheets printed dropped by 30 per cent — an average of 10,000 sheets a month. Of the library patrons surveyed, 90 per cent of respondents said that they thought the initiative was important. The success of the pilot caused the program to be expanded in May 2010 when double-sided printing was set as default on all duplex-capable printers at the central libraries and at three federated college libraries.
Elah Feder from the U of T Sustainability Office explains that the dialogue first started in 2006 when a student’s research paper targeted how to best conserve paper. When Heather Cunningham from the Gerstein Science Information Centre combined with the Sustainability Office after attending a conference in the fall of 2009 that challenged all departments to rethink their paper use. Cunningham was interested in reducing paper, and having recycling bins did not seem effective enough, nor did posting double-sided printing instructions as an option instead of a default.
Feder believes that the paper-saving mentality is spreading on campus, with digital copies of books being more common, although it is not clear if this is sustainable enough, since students can opt for printing out their books onto thicker paper, single-sided. The U of T Sustainability Office is also trying to see what can be done to improve photocopiers, since the jam rate is high when trying to photocopy double-sided. The plan also recommended posting instruction signs close to photocopiers on how to double-side, and suggested sustainable paper to U of T libraries. The sustainable paper is generally more expensive than regular paper — the reason why most libraries opt out. Yet there is promise with a new cheaper source of paper now found by the Sustainability Office.
Cunningham explained that Gerstein is the only library on campus that uses the most sustainable paper, recommended by the Sustainability Office almost a year ago, and that it is too early in the project to be able to say when other libraries will be using it as well. When asked about complaints of this double-sided default, she replied that she has not heard of any and that the U of T Sustainability Office’s past survey indicated an overwhelmingly positive response, with a minority indicating a wish of reduced cost.
A financial incentive to save paper is an issue that still needs to be addressed. Right now, the cost of printing double-sided is still that of printing two separate pages.
