Minimizing your printer's environmental impact

Lexmark is committed to environmental sustainability and is continually improving its printers to reduce their impact on the environment. We design with the environment in mind, engineer our packaging to reduce materials, and provide collection and recycling programs. For more information, see:

By selecting certain printer settings or tasks, you may be able to reduce your printer's impact even further. This chapter outlines the settings and tasks that may yield a greater environmental benefit.

Saving paper and toner

Studies show that as much as 80% of the carbon footprint of a printer is related to paper usage. You can significantly reduce your carbon footprint by using recycled paper and the following printing suggestions, such as printing on both sides of the paper and printing multiple pages on one side of a single sheet of paper.

For information on how you can quickly save paper and energy using one printer setting, see "Using Eco-Mode".

Using recycled paper

As an environmentally conscious company, Lexmark supports the use of recycled office paper produced specifically for use in laser printers. For more information on recycled papers that work well with your printer, see Using recycled paper and other office papers.

Conserving supplies

There are a number of ways to reduce the amount of paper you use when printing, copying, or receiving faxes. You can:

Use both sides of the paper

You can control whether print appears on one or two sides of the paper for an incoming fax, a printed document, or a copy. For more information, see:

Place multiple pages on one sheet of paper

You can print up to 16 consecutive pages of a multiple-page document onto one side of a single sheet of paper from the Print dialog.

To copy two or four consecutive pages of a multiple-page document onto one side of a single sheet of paper, see Copying multiple pages onto a single sheet.

Choose scanning

You can avoid making a paper output of a document or photograph by scanning it to save to a computer program, application, or flash drive. For more information, see:

Check your first draft for accuracy

Before printing or making multiple copies of a document:

Avoid paper jams

Carefully select and load paper to avoid paper jams. For more information, see Avoiding jams.

Saving energy

You may be able to further reduce energy by adjusting Power Saver.

Using Eco-Mode

Use Eco-Mode to quickly select one or more ways to reduce your printer's environmental impact.

Note: See the table for the multiple settings that change when you select an Eco-Mode setting.

Choose

To

Energy

Reduce energy use, especially when the printer is idle.

  • Printer engine motors do not start until a job is ready to print. You may notice a short delay before the first page is printed.

  • The printer enters Power Saver mode after one minute of inactivity.

  • When the printer enters Power Saver mode, the printer control panel display and option lights are turned off.

  • The scanner lamps are activated only when a scan job is started.

Paper

  • Print appears on both sides of a print, copy, or received fax.

  • Fax transmission log features are turned off.

Energy/Paper

Use all the settings associated with Energy mode and Paper mode.

Off

Use factory default settings. This setting supports the performance specifications for your printer.


To select an Eco-Mode setting:

  1. From the printer control panel, press menu button.

  2. Press the arrow buttons until Settings appears, and then press select button.

  3. Press the arrow buttons until General Settings appears, and then press select button.

  4. Press the arrow buttons until Eco-Mode appears, and then press select button.

  5. Select the setting you want, and then pressselect button.

    Submitting changes appears.

Adjusting Power Saver using the printer control panel

  1. Make sure the printer is on and Ready appears.

  2. From the printer control panel, press menu button.

  3. Press the arrow buttons until Settings appears, and then press select button.

  4. Press the arrow buttons until General Settings appears, and then press select button.

  5. Press the arrow buttons until Timeout appears, and then press select button.

  6. Press the arrow buttons until Power Saver appears, and then press select button.

  7. Press the arrow buttons to enter the number of minutes for the printer to wait before entering the Power Saver mode. Available settings range from 1–240 minutes.

  8. Press select button.

    Submitting changes appears.

  9. Press menu button, and then press back button until Ready appears.

Adjusting Power Saver using the Embedded Web Server

Available settings range from 1-240 minutes. The factory default setting is 30 minutes.

To increase or decrease the number of minutes before the printer enters Power Saver mode:

  1. Type the printer IP address into the address field of your Web browser.

    Note: If you do not know the IP address of the printer, then print a network setup page and locate the IP address in the TCP/IP section.
  2. Click Settings, and then click General Settings.

  3. Click Timeouts.

  4. In the Power Saver box, increase or decrease the number of minutes you want the printer to wait before it enters Power Saver mode.

  5. Click Submit.

Recycling

Lexmark provides collection programs and environmentally progressive approaches to recycling. For more information, see:

Recycling Lexmark products

To return Lexmark products to Lexmark for recycling:

  1. Visit our Web site at www.lexmark.com/recycle.

  2. Find the product type you want to recycle, and then select your country from the list.

  3. Follow the instructions on the computer screen.

Recycling Lexmark packaging

Lexmark continually strives to minimize packaging. Less packaging helps to ensure that Lexmark printers are transported in the most efficient and environmentally sensitive manner and that there is less packaging to dispose of. These efficiencies result in fewer greenhouse emissions, energy savings, and natural resource savings.

Lexmark cartons are 100% recyclable where corrugated recycling facilities exist. Facilities may not exist in your area.

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) foam used in Lexmark packaging is recyclable where foam recycling facilities exist. Facilities may not exist in your area. For information on EPS foam recycling locations:

  1. Visit EPS Recycling International's Web site at www.epsrecycling.org/pages/intcon.html.

  2. Select your country or region from the list, and then click the links or use the contact information provided.

When you return a cartridge to Lexmark, you can reuse the box that the cartridge came in. Lexmark will recycle the box.

Returning Lexmark cartridges for reuse or recycling

The Lexmark Cartridge Collection Program diverts millions of Lexmark cartridges from landfills annually by making it both easy and free for Lexmark customers to return used cartridges to Lexmark for reuse or recycling. One hundred percent of the empty cartridges returned to Lexmark are either reused or demanufactured for recycling. Boxes used to return the cartridges are also recycled.

To return Lexmark cartridges for reuse or recycling, follow the instructions that came with your printer or cartridge and use the pre-paid shipping label. You can also:

  1. Visit our Web site at www.lexmark.com/recycle.

  2. From the Toner Cartridges section, select your country from the list.

  3. Follow the instructions on the computer screen.

Reducing printer noise

Use Quiet Mode to reduce the printer noise.

Note: See the table for the multiple settings that change when you select a Quiet Mode setting.

Choose

To

On

Reduce printer noise.

  • You may notice a reduction in processing speed.

  • Printer engine motors do not start until a job is ready to print. You may notice a short delay before the first page is printed.

  • Fans run at a reduced speed or are turned off.

  • If your printer has faxing capability, fax sounds are reduced or disabled, including the fax speaker and ringer.

Off

Use factory default settings. This setting supports the performance specifications for your printer.


To select a Quiet Mode setting:

  1. From the printer control panel, press menu button.

  2. Press the arrow buttons until Settings appears, and then press select button.

  3. Press the arrow buttons until General Settings appears, and then press select button.

  4. Press the arrow buttons until Quiet Mode appears, and then press select button.

  5. Select the setting you prefer between Yes and No, and then pressselect button.

    Submitting changes appears.