Wasteful practices escalate paper costs

With unlimited printing power, University of Northern Iowa faculty, staff and students may be printing off more than they need. Recently, an order for 19,800,000 sheets of white paper was purchased to keep the supply of paper in line with the demand.

Rod Library sees the highest volume of printing. The Rod Library staff deals with the extent of the waste of paper on a daily basis.

"This is a big problem," said UNI student and Rod Library employee Shantel Mayberry. "In the mornings, it is one person's job to collect all the paper and sort it all out."

A common problem workers at the library notice is that people are impatient with the printers. If a document does not print right away, people will continue to hit the print button. By the end of this process, multiple copies are printed and only one was needed.

Rod Library staff is trying to mitigate the problem by creating awareness with fliers and making policies that restrict printing to a 40-page limit. However, there are many ways around this restriction. Software to enforce the printing caps has not been put into the systems yet. 

Marilyn Mercado, dean of Library Services, feels strongly about this issue. With the cost for paper and printer tones increasing and the budget decreasing, UNI is feeling the pinch more than ever.

"We need to raise more awareness," Mercado said. "The more we use and waste, the more it hurts us as a campus. We need to be less reliant on print and move toward electronic uses."

Some of the fault has been attributed to professors. Students explained that their professors require them to print off articles that are 90 pages or more, well over the 40-page printing limit. Additionally, many professors request students hand in multiple copies or drafts for assignments.

Although professors may be the cause for part of the problem, this is a twofold issue. Without paying additional costs at the beginning of the semester for printing, students tend to print by the philosophy of "print first, read later."

The effort to cut the damages and costs associated with the constant demand for paper is being addressed. There are many recycling programs and organizations at UNI that try to make some kind of dent in this problem.

The Physical Plant is doing its part to alleviate the burden of the massive amounts of paper. Paper and other materials meant for recycling are picked up by trucks all throughout campus two times a week and are taken to the compactor. This, in turn, helps the university avoid spending money to dump it in the landfill.

William McKinley, assistant director for Campus Services, has been organizing recycling programs at UNI since 1989. Recycling has come a long way since then and is at its peak of activity right now.

"In the last couple years, there has been a greater push for recycling and there are more people that are actively engaged in recycling efforts than before," McKinley said.