CIT's Net-Print axes paper waste in computer labs

A printing technology implemented by CIT's Rich Marisa, left, and Rick Cochran has saved over 550,000 sheets of paper in the past two years. Barry DeLibero/University Photography

By Mike Dawson

Rick Cochran and Rich Marisa went out on a limb to cut down on wasted paper and saved more than a few trees in the process. Cochran and Marisa, both of Cornell Information Technologies, accomplished this through changes to Net-Print, Cornell's for-fee laser printing service offered in computer labs across campus.

Since its beginning, Net-Print had added a cover sheet to each print job to keep print jobs separated and easy to find at the printer. Cover sheets worked, but many students complained about the needless waste of paper, so Cochran and Marisa began to look for an environmentally friendly solution.

In fall 1998, the duo came up with a solution, based on a suggestion by Mike Hojnowski, one of the original designers of Net-Print. They paired PostScript technologies and the capabilities of Cornell's authentication system to create a "watermark" on the first page of each print job. The watermark is a thin band at the top of the page indicating the user's network ID. It looks much like the header produced by a fax machine.

"In a large computing lab, some method of identifying printer output is necessary to avoid serious mix-ups," said Cochran. "The watermark solution isn't perfect, but it's a whole lot better than wasting an average of one out of every four sheets on separate cover pages."

The traditional cover sheet method is still available for printouts like résumés, where an unmarked front page is necessary. But users have embraced the new watermarking method and it became the default identification method in fall 1999.

In the two years since watermarking was adopted, more than 550,000 sheets of paper (an estimated 47 trees) have been saved. The environmental benefits don't stop there -- Net-Print recently switched to using recycled paper containing 20 percent post-consumer waste, saving even more trees, reducing waste and limiting the growth of landfills.

Universities can be paper-heavy environments, but Net-Print's environmental consciousness and technical savvy are helping to cut down on the negative impact this can have on the earth: If a tree falls in the forest, it won't be because of Net-Print.