Achieving a Higher Level of Environmental Awareness
Our Plattsburgh Next plan embraces environmental sustainability as a core component
of SUNY Plattsburgh’s Vision. In service of that goal, campus tech teams work constantly
toward developing sustainable practices and green initiatives that lower our carbon
footprint and reduce energy usage.
Among our current efforts is implementation of SUNY’s Managed Print Initiative. We
recently spent the summer working with departments to begin right-sizing the entire
campus copier/printer fleet.
Thus far, we have achieved the following results:
- A permanent elimination of 32 Kyocera copiers; this is projected to yield $224,000
in equipment-cost savings every five years
- A 35% reduction in B/W printing/copying
- A 40% reduction in Color printing/copying
- Increased sharing of copy/print equipment in many areas
It’s a strong start. We are also working to accomplish the following required tasks:
- Significantly reduce the number of campus laser printers
- Replace all remaining copiers with new SUNY-approved devices
- Centralize a budget for printing and paper
- Reduce color printing
A Centralized Printing Budget
In collaboration with administration and finance, we have developed a plan to centralize
the print budget based on copy/print expenses from fiscal year 2019–2020 (the same
benchmark data SUNY used). This action moves us away from departments paying for prints
and paper at specific copiers.
The budget plan was approved by campus administration and will be implemented for
the 2022–23 budget year. Implementation of the new centralized budget will involve
a permanent transfer of funds from accounts using expense totals represented in the
2019–20 print-utilization report to a centralized “campus printing account” managed
by ITS.
All copier print charges and paper expenses will then be paid for out of the centralized
account.
Account managers can rejoice that they will no longer need to manage accounts for
purchasing paper, consumables, and print usage costs. (We will follow-up with account
managers directly to confirm account numbers and details associated with centralizing
the print budget.)
We can expect our print/copy fleet to shrink as more departments share devices. Our
overall campus print volume is down and will become lower. However, because per-page
costs in the SUNY plan are higher than the rate we pay now to SymQuest, we will use
the 2019–20 print-volume data for budgeting purposes.
No print quotas will be implemented at this time. While the campus has done a great job in printing less and we have already met most
of SUNY’s thresholds, we still need to do a better job of reducing our color printing.
Going Forward
- Paper distribution will be handled using the “supplies to go” process already implemented
in the warehouse. The warehouse currently stocks 40 cases of paper. They will reorder
when they get down to 10. Departments may request no more than two cases at a time.
- We will default printer/copiers to B/W (color printing is sometimes executed in error
and color print jobs are nearly 10 times the cost of B/W).
- We will evaluate print usage quarterly to check alignment with the SUNY targets and
the remaining centralized funds used to pay for printing. If our campus print usage
rises above thresholds, we may introduce quotas.
- Good change is good — but not always easy. We realize that transition can be challenging.
But we are confident our campus community will embrace the changes as “the right thing
to do.”
- Shifting to scanning and sharing documents electronically instead of printing and
distributing paper is an ever-more common practice that provides benefits to the campus
community and the planet.
- Everyone wins when we succeed in making our campus more environmentally sustainable,
reducing waste, saving money for use in critical strategic areas, and aligning with
SUNY’s policy.
We can do this. Together.