The Lounge

With businesses being urged to adopt a greener approach to their working practices, computer hardware and accessory giant HP is leading the way. Although plans are in place to reduce carbon footprints as well as make inroads into creating a low-carbon world, the business world is still fairly behind when it comes to the environment, as opposed to personal sacrifices and changes in lifestyle. However, this can't be levied at HP, who have launched a Best Practice Guide entitled The HP Guide to Greener Printing to help reduce the impact that paper use has on the environment.

The guide is free, and offers small-to-medium sized businesses an excellent guide on how to improve the greenness of their printing methods. This follows a survey that HP carried out which shows that many companies with less than 1,000 employees have no special provision for a green business policy. Indeed, they're even ignoring the numerous low-cost options available to them to help improve their printing and office methods. HP wants to change this outlook, hence the release of their online guide.

Some of the methods involved in reducing your carbon use include digital as opposed to paper receipts (especially in this age of online business transactions), double-sided printing, and recycling printer ink cartridges and paper. There are a host of other excellent ideas and examples in the guide, so if you're a small business owner and you're guilty of ignoring the environment, check it out now. It could save a lot more than just money in the long run...