Printing

In 2024, almost 2,000,000 sheets of A4 paper were used by h_da (Papieratlas, 2025). Assuming a standard paper weight of 80 g/m², that amounts to just under 10 tonnes of paper – as much as two to three fully-grown elephants weigh. Each of these printed pages also leaves an environmental footprint. The environmental impact begins long before the paper reaches the printer: paper production requires raw materials, energy and water, whilst printing adds ink or toner, electricity and waste to the mix. Life-cycle assessments show that paper production, through raw material extraction, energy consumption and transport, makes a significant contribution to the environmental impact of printed documents (Dias et al., 2004). Using recycled paper can reduce this impact compared with the production of paper from virgin fibre (Hong & Li, 2012).

The simplest way to reduce these impacts is also the most effective: simply do not print unless it is absolutely necessary. When a paper copy is justified, even small choices can make a difference. Printing on both sides can halve the number of sheets required for a document. Black-and-white printing can reduce the consumption of ink or toner, provided that colour printing is not necessary. It is also worth considering the environmental impact when choosing paper: recycled paper can offer advantages over paper made from virgin fibre.

Through simple measures such as phasing out individual printers and introducing duplex and black-and-white printing as the default settings, the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union was able to reduce paper consumption per person by 42 % between 2019 and 2024, for example.