Posted by Bret Bottger, Inkjet Systems Marketing

Minimizing our impact on the environment is a big focus for HP.  And we've learned that businesses can actually save money on printing and reduce their environmental impact at the same time. 

As part of HP's Eco Solutions program, all of the new HP Officejet printers and all-in-ones which were introduced in March include environmental features to help businesses save money and resources, including automatic two-sided printing and HP Smart Web Printing⁽¹⁾ to save ink and paper. HP Smart Web Printing software prints Web pages without cutoff edges, allows you to combine content from multiple Web pages into one and then print what you see.  Also HP offers easy and free cartridge recycling through HP Planet Partners.⁽²⁾

Another great offer is the HP Trade-in and Save program available in North America to the end of 2009.  It helps businesses receive up to $1,000 cash back when purchasing a new HP LaserJet or HP Officejet printer.⁽³⁾  Customers will receive free recycling of their old printer, no matter if it is working or not, and are eligible for a free Total Care Access Card ($49 value), while supplies last.  This means it's easy to responsibly recycle your old printer, whether it is a laser printer or an ink printer - any brand, HP or other printer brands. 

The new HP Officejet Pro 8500 and 8000 products offer significantly lower energy consumption compared to lasers - as much as 50% lower.⁽⁴⁾  These new products are ENERGY STAR® qualified and come standard with automatic two-sided printing to save up to half the paper.  Of course, these printers support recycled paper. 

You can also conserve paper and ink by using Original HP supplies.  The new HP 940 and 920 Officejet inks minimize the need to reprint and deal with the premature failures often associated with remanufactured or refilled cartridges.  Find out more about remanufactured and refilled cartridges failures in this QualityLogic report.

Saving Money by Creating Marketing Materials Yourself

You can save up to 50% on print jobs like brochures, flyers and other marketing materials by printing them inside your business instead of outsourcing the job to a neighborhood copy shop.⁽⁵⁾    Officejet Pro and Officejet printers and all-in-ones are ideal for printing cost-effective professional quality color flyers and brochures.  Learn more in a report by InfoTrends.   

If you're just getting started with business marketing, be sure to check out the recently expanded HP Creative Studio for Business.  It's a comprehensive online resource designed to help you grow your business that now includes an online community focused on business marketing.  The community offers free webinars and articles by prominent small business experts, including John Jantsch, Guy Kawasaki and Anita Campbell.

Feel free to jump into the discussion by leaving a comment.  Are you concerned about environmentally conscious business printing?  Have you tried saving money by creating your own marketing materials instead of sending print jobs to the copy shop?

Opinions expressed here and in any corresponding comments are the personal opinions of the original authors, not of HP and may not have been reviewed in advance by HP.

^[1] Requires Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.

⁽²⁾ HP ink cartridge return and recycling is available in 42 countries and territories around the world, covering 88 percent of the addressable market; details are available at www.hp.com/recycle.

^[3] A list of eligible printers is available at www.hp.com/go/tradeandsave

^[4] Cost-per-page (CPP) and energy-savings claims for HP Officejet Pro 8500 All-in-One (AiO) series are based, as of June 2008, on the majority of color laser AiOs less than $600 when using HP Officejet Pro products with high-capacity cartridges. CPP and energy-savings claims for HP Officejet Pro 8000 Printer series are based, as of June 2008, on the majority of color lasers less than $300 when using HP Officejet Pro products with high-capacity cartridges. CPP and energy-savings claims for HP Officejet 6500 AiO series are based, as of June 2008, on the majority of color laser all-in-ones less than $300 when using HP Officejet Pro products with high-capacity cartridges. Energy use is also based on the manufacturers' stated power consumption when printing. Test methods may vary. Details are available at www.hp.com/go/officejet.

^[5] InfoTrends, The Cost of Print in the United States: An Analysis of In-House vs. Print Shop Costs. ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softlib/software9/COL19323/ja-51202-2/CostofPrint_US_090507.pdf