Tips and Resources for Responsible Printing

Tips to Reduce Paper Waste

• Always use double-sided printing
• Reduce the margins and font size on your papers/projects
• Use Print Preview and only print the pages you need
• Print multiple PowerPoint slides on one page. Under Print Settings, you can change the print layout to "Handouts" and designate the number of slides - up to 9 - you want to appear on each page. PaperCut will only count that one side of the page rather than the number of slides that appear on it. -
• Collaborate using electronic documents whenever possible. Use email, CourseSite, or Lehigh's Google Docs to create, share, and edit documents.
• Check the printer status before trying to print more than once
• Pick up your print jobs as soon as you print; don't wait to get them later or they may get placed in the recycling container.
• Think before you print! Do I really need to print this email, Webpage, etc?

Other Printing Resources

• Photocopying is available for a fee in the libraries.
• Printing and Mailing Services is a Business Services cost center which has many services available from simple copying, to designing and making posters, or mailing out addressed letters. You can use the PMS E-Z order to place an order online.
• The Mail Room at Campus Square also offers color copies and other printing services for more "professional" or custom jobs.
• The Lehigh Environmental Advisory Group (LEAG) is a campus organization which has taken the lead in addressing printing waste and other important institutional environmental and sustainability initiatives. You can email LEAG at inleag@lehigh.edu with any questions.

Ideas for Faculty

LTS has created a helpful guide for faculty to easily navigate Lehigh's printing policies and resources. It also provides a list of best printing practices for both faculty and students. View and download Student Printing at Lehigh: A Guide for Faculty. Read on for some additional ideas:

• Re-use readings - Collect unwanted readings from students and distribute them to students in following semester.
• Allow students to read/submit work digitally - Contact your IT Consultant if you would like to learn more about having student read/submit work digitally.
• Re-use paper - Allow students to hand-in drafts on used paper.
• Change font/margin - Century Gothic and Times New Roman are the most "eco-friendly" fonts.  Suggest to your students to use this font and allow them to set the margins thinner to accommodate more words on a page.
• Accept (or require) double-sided print submissions for course assignments
• Disable PDF print function for online readings posted on CourseSite. To learn how, see this tutorial.