The Three Musketeers Jessica, Asia, Jamie

We initially want to get three double-sided printers that will be installed in the Union, VCC, and Folsom Library We want to put a set of guidelines for greener printing on the VCC help desk website We are going to talk to Professors and explain the benefits of having their students switch to double- sided printing or online submission of work In addition, we want to talk to the VCC about changing the printed receipts that students receive every time they print

We want to get three double-sided printers purchased, one to be placed in the VCC, the Student Union, and the Folsom Library respectively These are the most heavily populated printing areas so they will get the most use and save more paper We want the printers that we purchase to be set for double sided printing, not just capable of doing so The Average price for each printer we are looking to purchase is: Brand: Where to purchase:

Guidelines for Greener Printing: Double-check work for any mistakes in grammar, information, etc. If a mistake is made only print the page or pages that have a mistake instead of the entire document Format so that margins are smaller (unless otherwise noted by a professor) Format the work so that there are no large, unnecessary spaces Use the print preview option, especially when printing from online to make sure that all pages are needed and none have formatting issues Decrease font size from 12 point to 11 point- this can save a page or two of paper and ink depending on the length of the paper and is still read easily (more for longer documents/work) Print only what you need and will use – if you can read it online and do not have to print it, don’t If you are printing more than one thing from the same format, create one document so that only one receipt is printed and formatting can be adjusted to save wasted space created from having separate documents

We want to talk to professors and try to convince them to strongly encourage, if not require, student’s papers to be printed double sided We also want to talk to professors about allowing students to turn things in online instead of a paper copy of their work (for most work) One argument for this is that things do not need to be printed for comments to be added to them, tablets and apps can be used instead Also, student work can be all in one place at one time which makes it easier for professors/TAs to keep track of the work that students turn in

We propose to change the way that students receive their receipt and separate their work when they print Change receipts to be ed instead of being printed as a full page Have the printers print a blank page to separate students work These blank pages can then be reloaded and used for printing Possibly have the RCS id printed on the footers of each page being printed (however with the other things in place this is not necessary but would help to separate students’ work better than just the blank page)

Save money on paper and ink Paper: half the paper used for double-sided printing and no full page receipt will reduce the amount paper used Ink: save ink because of getting rid of the full page receipt, reduction in re-printing of mistakes, and better formatting for students’ work so as to reduce the ink used Printing friendly guidelines would mean less reprints Less time wasted on cleaning up in VCC because of the left behind, unneeded receipts and reprints This gives the student workers more time to help students Satisfaction of doing something good for the environment Potential for more students to switch to greener printing and save even more paper

Paper waste means loss of trees One ton of uncoated, virgin printing paper uses 24 trees Emissions from making paper and shipping it around If the US cut office paper use by 10%, it would prevent the emission of 1.6 million tons of greenhouse gases. Recycling paper would save paper, which would save trees, and would ultimately help reduce emissions The paper industry is the third highest emitter of industrial greenhouse gases (to the air) in the world and the fifth highest emitter of toxic waste (to the water) 1 ton recycled paper saves: 24 trees, 7000 gallons of water, 60 pounds of air pollution, 4100 Kilowatt hours of electricity One page of wasted printing costs $0.06

Getting double sided printers for the Union, VCC, and Folsom Library Changing the receipts so that each printing job does not waste a full sheet of paper (and ink) Talking to professors to change the way that students turn in their written work (either double-sided or online) Putting up guidelines for students to reference to print greener Also include ink-friendly guidelines which would save money Getting students to actually use double sided printing by talking to them and getting them informed

We want this to grow and have a policy in place that whenever new printers are purchased for the campus, they have to be double-sided printers or at least have the capability to be We would like to see more printers bought to be added to or to replace the printers in residence halls and other places students and faculty often print If we purchase any printers that require an outside driver for printing, then we want to have those drivers installed into the new laptops for incoming classes and have it available for current students to get for their laptops as well Make the switch to recycled paper to be used campus wide for all printers We also want to have a policy for all papers (at least in certain writing- intensive classes) to be: Printed double-sided (or) Turned in online for classes where applicable

Single-sided printing, human error, and full paper printing receipts wastes a lot of paper, we want to change that (at least on a small scale) Double-sided printers and a better system of separating student work will save paper and make RPI greener We have short-term goals that are fairly easy to implement and some long-term goals for the school as a whole that this project can be expanded upon if it works at this initial stage