UW-EC sustainable printing initiative nears completion

Nov. 17—EAU CLAIRE — Sustainable practices come in many forms, big and small, obvious and subtle.

UW-Eau Claire says it's about to reach the end of a sustainability initiative that has replaced 1,016 printing devices across campus with 154 new devices constructed using recycled materials.

The beginning of the spring semester will mark the completion of a "lengthy and systematic" conversion of printing operations at UW-Eau Claire to a more sustainable model, the university stated in a news release.

By the end of Winterim, the university added, all departments will be converted to new devices under the FollowMe system, a change that will significantly reduce the number of printing devices on campus.

This change is more environmentally friendly than the old system, and will reduce university expenses by requiring less toner and less paper, as two-sided printing will be the default setting in all devices. The new system will also provide more consolidated print, copy and scan options with significantly fewer machines, and will increase Americans with Disability Act compliance with approved devices.

The sustainable printer conversion initiative began in 2019. The idea behind it was originally proposed in 2015 by a Rapid Action Task Force examining budget planning and sustainability, the university stated.

"Four years later, after extensive coordination with area supplier EO Johnson, we drafted a plan that followed our guiding principle to make data-informed decisions," said Craig Ernst, information technology manager in Learning and Technology Services, in the university news release.

The process began with transitioning all students to student ID card-enabled PaperCut/FollowMe for mobile printing, the university explained. The next phase involved rolling out the device conversions in administrative units, housing and other areas.

Though no technology is flawless, Ernst said in the news release that the system is working well on campus. However, the impacts of the pandemic have influenced overall use.

"With all transparency, the amount of printer utilization now compared to pre-COVID is dramatically lower across the board," Ernst said. "Processes have all changed significantly — online methods have been maintained in various aspects on both the teaching and learning ends, and the need to print things has been drastically reduced. I don't know that we will ever return to the levels of printing seen before COVID, at least not in academic areas."

Prior to the conversion, the 1,016 printing devices on campus utilized 177 different types of ink and toner cartridges. Energy consumption was estimated at $3,000 per month for the "phantom energy" used to leave devices plugged in around the clock, the university explained.

Additionally, LTS support costs for hundreds of unique models were significant and departments were tasked with ordering paper and toner for all the various devices in their units.

After the conversion, however, only 12 different multifunction models comprise 154 new devices, and the monthly phantom energy is reduced to $260. According to the university, old devices not sold through surplus were recycled through EO Johnson and First Choice Computer Recycling in Eau Claire.

"On the second floor of Schofield Hall alone, there were 85 separate devices when we conducted the inventory," Ernst says. "That whole area now shares five multifunction devices."

In the university news release, Lillian Strehlow, campus sustainability specialist for the Office of Risk Management, Safety and Sustainability, emphasized the importance of this sustainable printing initiative in reducing the university's overall carbon footprint.

"Reducing the number of printers on campus directly reduces our carbon footprint, through reduced consumption of toner cartridges, paper and the printers themselves," Strehlow said.

"The resources required to keep one idle printer on standby may seem innocuous, but what about 1,000 printers?" she added. "According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, it all adds up; electricity use from inactive electronics composes 1% of our global greenhouse gas emissions."

Ernst said the university saw an impact within the first few days of the semester. Pre-COVID, he explained, the university would see up to 75,000 sheets printed on the first day of the semester.

This year, however, the first-day number was around 25,000.

Also before the pandemic, Ernst said weeks outside of the beginning of the semester would see average daily printing of 30,000 pages per day. That number is at 15,000 this year, the university stated.