Most SMEs waste more on print than they realise. Little of it shows on an invoice. It sits in pages nobody collects, devices that stand idle while others wear out from overuse, toner ordered in a hurry and hours of staff time lost to jams and supplier calls.
That is why price alone tells you very little. A low cost per page means nothing if prints go uncollected, devices sit unused and your office manager spends Friday afternoon on the phone to a supplier. The real measure is waste. It is harder to see than price, but every part of it can be measured. Print waste falls into six areas:
Pages, consumables, devices, energy, staff time and risk.
Each one has a simple check and below you’ll find where each area hides, how to check your own office in an afternoon and what a print audit finds that a walk round the office misses.
What does print waste mean for a business?
Print waste is anything your business prints, powers, stores or manages that adds nothing to the work. It comes in three forms:
- Material waste covers paper, toner and devices that are bought but not needed.
- Time waste is the hours people spend clearing jams, reordering supplies and chasing suppliers.
- Risk is the confidential paperwork left sitting on output trays.
None of these show up clearly on a supplier invoice, which only shows what you paid for. It doesn’t show what you used, what you threw away or what your team gave up to keep the printers running. Comparing quotes on price per page only measures a small part of the picture.
Six places print waste hides in an SME
Most print waste falls into one of six areas. Each has its own warning signs.
1. Pages nobody needed
Uncollected jobs are the most visible waste in any office. Someone prints, gets pulled into a meeting and prints again later. Colour is often the default when mono would do, and single-sided printing doubles the paper used for longer documents. Emails get printed just to be read.
How to spot it: check the output trays once everyone has gone home.
Print management software much of this at source. With secure release, a job stays held until the right person signs in at the device with a PIN, card or fob. Rules can also set mono and double-sided printing as the default.
2. Consumables bought in a hurry
Toner tends to be ordered once it has run out, resulting in rushed orders. Over time, cupboards fill with cartridges for devices the business no longer owns. Every extra device model adds another set of supplies to track.
How to spot it: open the cupboard. Count the cartridge types and match them to the devices you still have.
A managed fleet removes the guesswork. Devices are monitored remotely, so toner can be replaced before it runs out. No stockpiles, no panic orders.
3. The wrong devices in the wrong places
In many offices, one device does most of the work while others sit idle. Busy machines wear faster and they also break down more often. Quiet machines still take up floor space, power and service visits. Desktop printers on individual desks add more models, more supplies and more things to go wrong.
How to spot it: compare meter readings across devices over a month. The gap is often wider than expected.
The answer is usually fewer, better-placed devices. A single multifunctional device can replace a separate printer, copier and scanner. Our guide to what a multifunctional device does explains how to choose one.
4. Energy and space
Older devices often lack the sleep and power-saving settings found on current models. Machines left fully powered overnight and at weekends use energy without producing anything. Space is also at a premium in most offices. Every unused device takes up desk or floor space that could be put to better use.
How to spot it: walk the office after hours and note which devices are still awake. Record the age of each one.
5. Staff time
This is the waste most businesses overlook. Clearing jams, swapping toner, logging IT tickets and calling different suppliers all pull people away from their real jobs.
How to spot it: ask your team how much time they spend on printer problems each week, and who usually deals with them.
We look at this in more detail in why managing your own printer fleet is costing your business time and money.
6. Risk from documents left on the tray
Uncollected prints also carry a data risk. Payslips, contracts and client records left on a shared printer are open to anyone. Quocirca’s Global Print Security Landscape 2023 found that 61% of organisations surveyed had suffered data loss through unsecure printing in the previous 12 months.
Secure release removes most of this risk. Our GDPR and print security page covers the wider steps, including protecting the data stored on the devices themselves.
Why most SMEs can’t see their own print waste
Print rarely has a single owner. The office manager orders supplies, IT fixes connection problems and finance pays the invoices. Nobody sees the whole picture.
It gets harder when devices have been added one at a time over several years, each with its own supplier, agreement and renewal date. Most standalone devices record a page count. Few show who printed what.
Without that information, decisions default to price. A business compares the cost of a new device or a new contract because that is the only number it has. The waste carries on underneath.
When we first visit a customer’s offices, we often see the same issues. Personal printers on individual desks are common, creating a fleet that is difficult to manage and expensive to run. The cost of consumables, energy and ongoing maintenance can quickly add up, often without businesses realising just how much they are spending.
We also regularly see printers labelled with notices such as “Out of Order” or “Do Not Use Tray 1”. These may seem like minor inconveniences, but they can be signs of unresolved faults, unreliable equipment or a lack of effective support from the existing supplier.
Our comprehensive print audit looks beyond the printers themselves. We assess your current equipment, running costs, service issues and working practices to identify opportunities to simplify your fleet, improve reliability and increase efficiency. The result is a clear picture of how your print environment could work better for your business, often at a lower overall cost.
How to check your own print waste in seven steps
You can build a rough picture of your print waste in an afternoon, with a second reading a month later. Work through these steps in order:
- List every device. Include printers, copiers, scanners and multifunctional devices. Note the location, make, model and rough age of each.
- Read the meters. Record the page count on every device, then repeat a month later. The difference is your monthly volume per device.
- Find the outliers. Mark the devices that do most of the work and the ones that barely print. Both deserve a closer look.
- Check the cupboard. Count consumables and match them against the devices you still use. Anything left over is stock you can’t use.
- Walk the trays. Once everyone has gone home, collect and count uncollected prints. Note any that contain personal or confidential information.
- Ask the team. Find out how much time people lose to printer problems each week, and who deals with them.
- List every agreement. Write down each supplier, lease, service contract and renewal date that involves print.
This shows you where the obvious waste sits. It won’t show who prints what, how each device performs over time or which changes would make the biggest difference. That needs proper measurement.
What a print audit finds that a self-check misses
A print audit goes further. Lynbrook’s print audit looks at your current devices, how they are used, the workflows around them and the agreements you already have. You then receive a report with clear recommendations on reducing waste, improving efficiency and simplifying processes.
Price is part of that report. It isn’t the whole story. The recommendations also cover how many devices you need and where they should go. They look at how printing is controlled, how supplies are managed and how much time your team spends on print. Those are the areas where waste builds up.
The audit is free. There is no obligation, and we only recommend a change when it is right for your business. If we can’t improve on what you have, we’ll say so. Find out more about how our managed print service works.
What reducing print waste looks like in practice
Reducing waste rarely means asking people to print less. It means printing what is needed, on the right device, with less effort around it. In practice, that usually involves:
- Fewer, better-placed devices, matched to how each team works.
- Print rules and secure release through PaperCut, with mono and double-sided as the default.
- Monitored devices, so toner arrives before it runs out.
- One supplier, one agreement and one point of contact, backed by one visit, one fix support.
- Used parts and toner containers recycled, with older devices refurbished where possible.
Time often matters more than paper. A waste management company working with Lynbrook reduced the hours it spent processing certificates by 98%. Read our waste management case study to see how.
If you are weighing up how to make changes like these, our comparison of managed print and buying your own printers sets out the options side by side.
Look beyond the price per page
Print waste is easy to miss because price is the only number most businesses look at. The cost per page tells you what each print costs. It doesn’t tell you how many pages were never collected, how many devices sit idle or how many hours your team spends keeping them running. That is where the real waste sits.
Start with the seven-step check. When you want the full picture, book a free print audit and we’ll show you where your print waste sits and what to do about it.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a typical office waste on print?
There is no reliable figure for UK SMEs, and averages hide more than they show. Two offices of the same size can print very different volumes on very different fleets. The useful number is your own. A self-check gives a rough picture, and a print audit measures it properly.
What is a print audit?
A print audit is a review of your current devices, print volumes, supplies, workflows and agreements. It shows where waste sits. Lynbrook’s print audit is free, comes with no obligation and ends with a written report and recommendations.
How long does a print audit take?
During our initial visit, we gather the information needed to understand your existing arrangements. This includes reviewing service and lease agreements, invoices and consumables costs, alongside a walk-through of your offices to record each device, its model and configuration. We’ll also speak with key members of your team to understand how printing and scanning are used across the business, identify any frustrations and discuss where improvements could be made. Towards the end of the visit, we use specialist software to scan your print devices, capturing their current status and meter readings to help establish an accurate picture of usage.
We would normally return around a month later for our follow-up visit to review your experience during that period and take updated meter readings. This helps us build a more representative understanding of your print volumes and usage patterns. By combining your costs, equipment information, service history and actual usage, we can provide a clear assessment of your current print fleet and identify opportunities to improve reliability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness (with no obligation to proceed).
Is the cheapest print contract the best value?
Not always. Cost per page is one measure. Device numbers, supply management, downtime, support response and the time your team spends on print all affect the real value of a contract. A low headline price can hide a lot of waste.
Can I reduce print waste without changing supplier?
Yes, partly. Changing default settings, moving devices and clearing old stock all help. Lasting change usually needs monitoring and reporting, so you can see who prints what and act on it.
