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Choice shouldn’t be a dirty word
Paperless processes are hugely beneficial to businesses and the
environment, but in the rush to eradicate paper have the needs
of consumers been forgotten? The Keep Me Posted campaign
certainly thinks so – and with good reason (see page 16). Going
paperless is a relatively easy way for an organisation to reduce
its carbon footprint, but it is not always in the best interests
of customers. A more challenging path is to accept that some
people will always prefer to work with paper and find ways to
reduce the environmental impact of their choices. In this issue
we feature two outstanding examples of this approach: Toshiba’s
Eco MFP, which uses erasable toner so that a sheet of paper can
be re-used five times (page 15); and the MegaNews print-on-
demand magazine kiosk, which reduces the carbon footprint of
magazines by as much as 60% (page 12). Both initiatives are a
welcome reminder that an overly proscriptive approach is not
the only way to achieve green objectives.
James Goulding
, Editor
03 Green Agenda
10 Cover Story
OKI explains how to
improve the efficiency of
document workflows
12 Digital News Stand
MegaNews unveils the news
stand of the future
15 Erasable toner
Virgin Media trials
Toshiba’s erasable MFP
Editor:
James Goulding
07803 087228 [email protected]
Advertising Director:
EthanWhite
01732 759725 [email protected]
Publishing Director:
Neil Trim
01732 759725 [email protected]
Group Sales Manager:
Martin Jenner-Hall
07824 552116 [email protected]
Sustainable Times is, published by Kingswood Media Ltd.,
Amhurst House, 22 London Road, Sevenoaks TN13 2BT
Tel: 01732 759725. Email: [email protected]
No part of Sustainable Times can be reproduced without prior written permission
of the publisher. © 2013 Kingswood Media Ltd.
Design: Sandtiger Media www.sandtiger.co.uk
The paper used in this magazine is obtained from manufacturers who operate
within internationally recognized standards. The paper is made from Elementary
Chlorine Free (ECF) pulp, which is sourced from sustainable, properly managed
forestation.
SUMMER 2013
16 Scanners
Why everyone is going
paperless now
18 What’s New
Our round-up of
the latest green
products and
services
20 Energy
Management
Try before you buy
with 3D visualisation
and modelling
software
22 Printers
Why self-regulation works
CONTENTS
greenAgenda
sustainabletimes
03
Dell builds boxes out of straw
Dell has set a goal of zero-waste
packaging by 2020 and made a
commitment to use only recyclable or
compostable materials sourced from
sustainable materials. Currently, more
than half of Dell’s packaging meets
these criteria.
Starting this month, Dell is to
package notebooks from China in
recycled cardboard boxes containing
a minimum of 15% wheat straw, a
by-product of wheat harvesting that
Chinese farmers would normally burn.
During pulping, the wheat straw goes
through an enzymatic process modelled
on the way cows digest grass that uses
40% less energy and almost 90% less
water than traditional chemical pulping.
By sourcing 200 tons of wheat straw
from farmers in the Jiangsu Province
each year, Dell expects to save 180
tons of CO2 emissions – the carbon
equivalent of planting and growing
4,600 seedlings for a decade.
Dell already uses bamboo cushions
instead of foam when shipping
notebooks and other lightweight
products, and mushroom cushions for
heavier products such as servers.
www.dell.com
Woodland Carbon
Code anniversary
After its first two years of operation,
theWoodland Carbon Code, a
voluntary UK standard set up
to ensure that ‘carbon forestry’
projects achieve the carbon
benefits they claim, is being used
to validate 133 projects covering
14,200 hectares (35,000 acres). In
total, these projects are forecast
to remove more than 5 million
tonnes of carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere over the next 100 years.
The code administered by the
Forestry Commission was recently
amended to allow groups of smaller
woodland projects to come together
to share the cost of validation. It
has also been added to the Markit
Environmental Registry, allowing CO2
sequestered or absorbed byWCC-
validated woodlands in the UK to be
traded and changes in ownership of
each tonne to be tracked.
About 13% of the UK’s land area
is covered by woodland, more than
double the woodland coverage of 100
years ago. The European Union average
is 37%.
www.forestry.gov.uk/carboncode
UK courts to be
paperless by 2016
As the Government announces a
new digital courtroom strategy,
Opus 2 International’s Magnum
document management system has
been named Green IT Project of the
Year in the 2013 Business Green
Awards for its proven success in
reducing paper consumption and
facilitating paperless trials.
Opus 2 Magnum saved
approximately 5 million sheets of
A4 paper during its debut case
(Berezovsky v Abramovich) in 2011
and it is now used in nearly every
major UK case. All court documents
are stored electronically in the cloud
and can be accessed by solicitors,
barristers, claimants, defendants,
judges and juries from anywhere in the
world.
In June, Justice Minister Damian
Green announced a programme to
make UK courtrooms fully digital
by 2016. UK courts and the Crown
Prosecution Service currently use
160 million sheets of paper a year,
equivalent to the height of 15 Mount
Snowdons.
The Government plans to spend
£160 million on IT systems that will
enable interested parties to present
evidence digitally and access and
share court documents at the touch
of a button. In addition to new
court presentation and collaboration
software, Green plans to install
digital evidence screens andWiFi in a
majority of the UK’s 500 court houses.
The investment will end an
‘outdated’ reliance on paper and
improve efficiency and productivity,
for example by preventing
adjournments caused by lost or
missing information.
AWCC-validated woodland planting
scheme at Crairieknowe in Galloway,
Scotland. Copyright: Forest Carbon Ltd.