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 you can reduce the amount of paper and toner you use when printing, copying, or receiving faxes. You can:
Use both sides of the paper
If your printer model supports duplex printing, you can control whether print appears on one or two sides of the paper for a printed document by selecting 2-sided printing from the Print dialog or the Lexmark Toolbar.
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 by selecting a setting from the Multipage printing (N-Up) section of the Print dialog screen.
Choose scanning
You can avoid making a paper output of a document or photograph by scanning it and then saving it 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:
Use the Lexmark preview feature, which you can select from the Print dialog, the Lexmark Toolbar, or the printer display, to see what the document will look like before you print it.
Print one copy of the document to check its content and format for accuracy.
Avoid paper jams
Carefully select and load paper to avoid paper jams. For more information, see Avoiding jams.
Print in black and white
To print all text and graphics using only the black toner cartridge, set the printer to Black Only. For more information, see Printing in black and white.
Use Max Speed or Max Yield settings
The Max Speed and Max Yield settings let you choose between a faster print speed or a higher toner yield. Max Yield is the factory default setting. For more information, see Using Max Speed and Max Yield.
Saving energy
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. |
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 the standard exit bin lights are turned off. The scanner lamps are activated only when a scan job is started.
|
Paper | |
Energy/Paper | Use all the settings associated with Energy mode and Paper mode. |
Off | Use factory default settings for all settings associated with Eco-Mode. This setting supports the performance specifications for your printer. |
To select an Eco-Mode setting:
On the home screen, touch 
.
Touch Settings.
Touch General Settings.
Touch Eco-Mode.
Touch the arrows to select a setting.
Touch Submit.
Submitting changes appears.
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. |
On (Text/Graphics) Note: This setting is best suited for printing text and line graphics. | Reduce printer noise. Print jobs will process at one-half the normal processing speed. Printer engine motors do not start until a job is ready to print. There will be a short delay before the first page is printed. Fans run at reduced speed or are turned off. If your printer has faxing capability, fax sounds are reduced or disabled, including those made by the fax speaker and ringer. The fax is placed in standby mode. The alarm control and cartridge alarm sounds are turned off. The printer will ignore the Advance Start command.
|
Off (Image/Photo) Note: Selecting Photo from the driver may disable Quiet Mode and provide better print quality and full speed printing. | Use factory default settings. This setting supports the performance specifications for your printer. |
To select a Quiet Mode setting:
On the home screen, touch .
Touch Settings.
Touch General Settings.
Touch Quiet Mode.
Touch the arrows to select a setting.
Touch Submit.
Submitting changes appears.
Adjusting Power Saver
To save energy, you can decrease the number of minutes before the printer enters Power Saver mode.
Available settings range from 1–240 minutes. The factory default setting is 30 minutes.
Using the Embedded Web Server
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. |
Click Settings, and then click General Settings.
Click Timeouts.
In the Power Saver box, type the number of minutes you want the printer to wait before it enters Power Saver mode.
Click Submit.
Using the printer control panel
Make sure the printer is on and Ready appears.
On the home screen, touch .
Touch Settings.
Touch General Settings.
Touch the down arrow until Timeouts appears.
Touch Timeouts.
Touch the arrows next to Power Saver Mode to select the number of minutes you want the printer to wait before it enters Power Saver mode.
Touch Submit.
Touch 
.
Adjusting the brightness of the display
To save energy, or if you are having trouble reading your display, you can adjust the brightness of the display.
Available settings range from 20–100. The factory default setting is 100.
Using the Embedded Web Server
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. |
Click Settings, and then click General Settings.
In the Screen Brightness box, type in the brightness percentage you want for your home screen.
Click Submit.
Using the printer control panel
Make sure the printer is on and Ready appears.
On the home screen, touch .
Touch Settings.
Touch General Settings.
Touch the down arrow until Screen Brightness appears.
Touch the arrows to select a setting.
Touch Submit.
Touch .
Setting the standard exit bin light
To save energy, you can dim or turn off the output lighting for the standard exit bin.
Available settings are Off, Dim, and Bright.
The factory default setting for Normal/Standby Mode is Bright.
The factory default setting for Power Saver is Dim.
Using the Embedded Web Server
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. |
Click Settings, and then click General Settings.
Click Output Lighting.
From the Normal/Standby Mode list, select the light setting the standard exit bin will use when in Ready or Standby mode.
From the Power Saver list, select the light setting the standard exit bin will use when in Power Saver mode.
Click Submit.
Using the printer control panel
Make sure the printer is on and Ready appears.
On the home screen, touch .
Touch Settings, and then touch General Settings.
Touch the down arrow until Output Lighting appears.
Touch Output Lighting.
Touch the arrow button next to Normal/Standby Mode to select the light settings the standard exit bin will use when in Ready or Standby mode.
Touch the arrow button next to Power Saver to select the light setting the standard exit bin will use when in Power Saver mode.
Touch Submit.
Touch .
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:
Visit our Web site at www.lexmark.com/recycle.
Find the product type you want to recycle, and then select your country from the list.
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.
The foam used in Lexmark packaging is recyclable where foam recycling facilities exist. Facilities may not exist in your area.
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:
Visit our Web site at www.lexmark.com/recycle.
From the Toner Cartridges section, select your country from the list.
Follow the instructions on the computer screen.