SA's power uncertainties demand green initiatives

Sustainability and eco-responsibility are part of almost every major corporation's ethos - and usually their annual report. But many green initiatives are at a macro level, looking at things like cutting building power usage or emissions from factories.

However, according to Nathan Nayagar, MD of Lexmark SA and English-speaking Africa, there is a lot that can be done at a lower level to help cut waste and boost a company's eco-credentials. These include actions by each individual employee and best-practice processes that can streamline the business in an energy-efficient way.

He says a simple and highly effective way of reducing waste, while also cutting costs and improving efficiency is to cut back on paper usage and power consumption. This can be achieved by optimising office processes.

Nayagar says use of electronic equipment and a certain amount of printed material are required to help drive businesses forward on a day-to-day level, but finding ways to reduce power consumption and paper usage can create real environmental and economical change in the business.

"It may seem simplistic, but small changes at the lowest level can have a cumulative impact that can add up to a big difference. There are also a wide range of device features that are easy to implement and save paper and energy with a touch of the button," he says.

He note by enabling power-saving modes on printers and multi-function devices, such as setting a device to 'sleep' after 10 minutes of inactivity and dimming of the LCD screen, it's possible to reduce power consumption by up to eight per cent. That may not seem like much, but it adds up over time.

"My company, Lexmark, will continue to reduce sleep mode power for our future products while aiming to ensure two watts or less in anticipation of 2019 EU requirements (European Union's EC 801/2013). Energy saving is at the core of our eco-design initiatives and we've been successful in achieving a 42% TEC consumption in our latest models versus the previous generation, and up to 81% in sleep mode," he says.

Nayagar explains a bigger contributor to the carbon footprint of a business is the usage of paper. From day-to-day desk work, to marketing and communication, right through to supply chain management and billing, there is usually some paper involved in office operations. The printing of millions of pages during the day-to-day running of a business means paper consumption will account for up to 80% of the total carbon footprint of a given device.

"However, while the vision of the paperless office may not be in sight, the 'less-paper' business is a very real possibility. By simply setting the default print option to duplex - printing on both sides - this automatically cuts the amount of paper used in half," he notes.

"Similarly, studies have shown one out of every five-to-six pages printed is never picked up. This waste can be eliminated with a feature like Lexmark's Print Release. Users send print jobs from their workstation or mobile device, but these only take place once the user physically 'releases' them at the device, therefore eliminating the paper wastage of print outs that are forgotten and never collected. This is crucial when you know that producing one sheet of paper uses 50 times more energy than what's needed for printing it!

Nayagar points out cutting unnecessary paper usage and waste is a great first step, but an even greater impact can be had when the business can change its processes. Implementing process and content management technology can bring considerable cost savings and efficiencies to every part of a business. But it's also highly useful as a strategic element of any green initiatives.

"Daily tasks such as customer inquiries, paying vendors, generating invoices, hiring new employees, receiving materials and creating and renewing contracts can generate huge amounts of paper. This is not only inefficient, but it's wasteful too as that paper not only has to be printed, but has to be manually transported between operation centres."

The move towards digitising this content can help eliminate cumbersome, wasteful delivery procedures, cut fuel costs and minimise paper use in the process.

He believes businesses need software solutions that not only make processes more effective and efficient, but also reduce printing and its impact on the environment. However, these are in vain if there is no way to measure and analyse that success.

This has the dual benefit of being able to showcase the impact of existing initiatives as well as finding areas where new efficiencies and progress can be made, says Nayagar.

"Every aspect should be reported on ? from carbon savings to process efficiencies - and reports should also compare metrics to other organisations in the same industry. The wealth of information can be turned into actionable recommendations to reduce print, lower costs, and generate additional sustainability benefits."

He notes the efforts of an individual company to reduce its carbon footprint can be furthered by working with suppliers that also play their part.

"Businesses can integrate sustainability into their supply chain by screening all new suppliers for environmental compliance, material management and social responsibility," he continues.

Nayagar says choosing suppliers who share a vision of corporate citizenship and agree to conform to a set of expectations and standards can bring enhanced awareness of an industry's overall environmental impact as well as create credibility for eco-efforts.

"Accomplishing this requires monitoring the performance and compliance of suppliers by regularly analysing social, environmental and economic data. At Lexmark, we have screened 100% of our new critical parts suppliers for environmental compliance, material management and social responsibility. In addition, out of our 174 key and strategic suppliers, 53% have already issued a sustainability report last year."

"We recognise that climate change, including carbon footprint and water resources are issues of global concern. It's our belief that the most effective solutions can be developed through the collaborative efforts of public entities and private organisations, governing bodies and non-governmental agencies, enterprises and private citizens," says Nayagar.

"At Lexmark, we are committed to assisting our customers' energy reduction and offsetting their print-related carbon footprint whenever possible. In the pursuit of this objective, we have partnered with The Nature Conservancy. Specific customers may participate in joint environmental activities that provide a verifiable system for offsetting print infrastructure-related carbon impact once all customer specific key business processes and fleet optimisation have been implemented."

"As well as providing products and solutions that help businesses be more eco-responsible, Lexmark itself is committed to proactively addressing global environmental issues. As a case in point, our company has reduced its paper consumption over the last five years by over 50%," he says.

"We have also dedicated significant resources to reduce the environmental impact of operations and to develop products with environmentally beneficial features," he continues.

"At a wider level, we achieved 50% of supplies being manufactured in the region of consumption in 2013. We have a goal of regionally sourcing 80% of supplies by 2017."

"Similarly, Lexmark not only encourages cartridge recycling, but takes the extra steps necessary to close the loop. It collects the cartridges, recycles them in its own facility, and then feeds the raw materials back into new production. As such, its state-of-the-art facility in Mexico was the first manufacturing facility in the country to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-Gold certification," he says.

Nayagar mentions in light of the global economic recession, green and eco-initiatives took second place to cost cutting for many companies. However, sustainability and CSR remain an important part of every organisation's overall strategy - not to mention delivering cost savings and optimising processes.

By taking a holistic approach to sustainability, a company can show its employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders and the wider world that it takes the environment and its corporate social responsibility seriously, says Nayagar.

These types of initiatives don't need to be massive, complex and costly undertakings. In fact, many are simple and cheap, and a large number will help cut costs, improve efficiency, boost trust and help create closer relationships with suppliers and customers alike, he concludes.