NEW YORK -- With recent industry surveys indicating that businesses want to be more environmentally responsible, Océ Business Services is sharing recommendations to help enterprises implement more eco-friendly and cost-effective practices across the document lifecycle (document creation through disposal). Océ has been ranked one of the top 50 outsourcing service providers for environmental stewardship for the past three years according to the Black Book of Outsourcing Green Report.

There are several mail management practices that can help companies reach both their environmental and cost-reduction goals. From the sustainability perspective, these practices can significantly reduce the use of paper, thereby saving trees, gas in shipping the paper and physical space to store it. From the financial perspective, respondents participating in an Océ Business Services survey indicated that mail and shipping practices have a high impact on reducing costs, driving faster time to market and improving operational efficiency.

The following mail management practices can help organizations improve the environment as well as drive the cost-effectiveness and efficiency of their operations.

House List Hygiene - Companies can lose a substantial amount of money by not updating their mailings lists. It's estimated that two percent of all mail is returned and the total cost of re-mail is $3 per mail piece. The need to update is a constant challenge because about 17 percent of consumers and businesses move every year. The solution: save money and paper by regularly updating mailing lists in order to limit duplication and waste. Insure that addresses are correct before the mail goes out, and when a mail piece is returned undelivered, update the database as soon as possible before the next mailing cycle. Consistently updating databases can have a significant, positive impact on sustainability and cost-reduction initiatives.

Document Design Dividends - Paying attention to document design can reap solid dividends. For example, printing on both sides of the paper (duplex printing) can substantially cut paper use and reduce mailing costs. Simply decreasing the margin and font size can reduce the number of pages in a document. Additionally, variable data and document composition tools enable companies to combine two documents/mailings into one. One example of this approach is TransPromo, in which a document is created that combines a piece of transactional printing, such as a bill statement, with promotional or marketing content - all in one document.

Defaulting to Duplex - While mentioned earlier as an element of document design, duplex printing is a major cost-effective and sustainable practice worthy of additional mention. Most multi-page documents don't require the text to be printed on one side of the page. Newspapers, magazines and books use both sides. Companies can decrease paper use by up to 50 percent by making duplex printing the norm, a move that can also help the environment. "We implemented a green campaign as a joint effort between the Bremer Facilities Group and Océ Business Services to reduce paper usage," notes Dolores Hoffman, supervisor of administrative services and facilities management for Bremer Facilities Department. "Through initiatives such as moving print production to copiers that can print on both sides of a page, we have significantly reduced paper consumption and realized thousands of dollars in cost savings."

Certified Paper Trails - The United States Postal Service recommends that when sourcing paper, make sure it comes from forests managed with practices certified by independent, third-party organizations such as the Sustainable Forest Initiative (SFI). SFI forest certification promotes responsible forestry practices. To be certified, forest operations across the United States and Canada must be audited against the SFI forest standard. While this sourcing practice focuses mainly on sustainability, it does have business benefits. By choosing SFI-certified products, a company can use its buying power to improve forest management while sending a clear signal to customers it cares about forests.