Saving the environment is a somewhat broad topic - many individuals understand that it is important, but fail to fully comprehend it. Since it's a problem on global scale, 'doing your part' can see futile, especially for an individual who does not understand exactly how their lifestyle can contribute to environmental damage.

While there is a wide array of schemes that can help the everyday person grasp the problem with carbon emissions and which sort of garbage they should throw into which bin, it is important that they understand how each of their little misbehaviours can cause a dramatic environmental impact.

How exactly does a printer affect the environment? It doesn't seem intuitive that printing off one word document on a piece of paper can have too much of an impact, does it?

Here in this article, we'll take a look at the various things about how you print, and how you dispose of old printers and cartridges, can have a serious impact on the environment.

Paper Production

There's no denying that paper is among the largest sources of waste. Solely in 2008, paper accounted for more than 12,000 tonnes of waste - and that's only in the UK. Documents that are carelessly discarded, unnecessary ignored memos and misprints are examples of why it's such an astronomically high number. Wasted paper results in an even increased demand for it - which leads to more and more deforestation. Fortunately, groups like the Prince's Rainforest Project have been managed to slow the overall pace of deforestation - but of course, they can only do so much. The more we use paper needlessly, the more trees will come down.

Paper production also results in serious quantities of pollution - both water-based and atmospheric.. Paper mills often release harmful gases like Nitrogen Dioxide and CO2 in the atmosphere, and water is very important for the pulping process. Waste water often finds its way to fresh water source, polluting large amounts of perfectly clean water. This infographic from ecardshack showcases the waste paper is when contrasted to digital methods.

Printer Cartridges

You've probably heard a few stories about how toxic printer ink is - but it is really only harmful if you ingest it, which can be quite hard to do accidentally. There are, however, chemicals inside printer ink which can be very harmful for the environment - in addition to its non-biodegradable plastic case and the petroleum oil found in many toner and ink cartridges.

There are plenty of negative effects associated with chucking away old toner or ink cartridges - the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) and heavy metals in the ink can result in water and soil pollution as they're left in landfill, and plastic can take years to degrade, and pollute soil.

Ink cartridges that are throw away need to be replaced as well, which leads to an increase in demand and more petroleum oil (many manufacturers utilize vegetable oil now, though) and plastic gets used, causing even further pollution.

Your Printer

Printer hardware doesn't have much impact besides energy usage, when compared to the consumables utilized. It is important, however, that you make sure to only have it on when you need to - including running cleaning cycles. Make sure that its energy efficient as well.

The real issues for the environment associated with the printer itself is disposing of it - electronic waste has to be dealt with differently than regular waste - but many individuals still throw it away with their weekly trash collection, without considering the impact of these actions.

All in all, printers and printing can have a very significant impact to the environment. Of course, this does not means we need to stop all printing. Over the next few posts, we'll share a few tips which will help you use such devices in an environmentally friendly manner, so you can make sure to do your bit to save the environment, with no need to entirely change your lifestyle.