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Tips and tools for green purchasing
ESSENTIAL GUIDE
JULY 2011
Environment Business Media
Essential tips for greening your office equipment
Redefining costs as the total cost of ownership
Case studies – Toyota, 3M Australia and Ford
Rating the products and ranking the providers
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Inside IT and office equipment
W
orldwide, information and communication technology is responsible for 3% of greenhouse emissions and this
is predicted to rise to 6% by 2020. The suite of ICT products – including computers, TVs and, to a lesser
extent, office devices – is also the source of massive volumes of hazardous electronic waste.

But it is also one of the most dynamic areas in responding to these issues, with new business models (computing
as a service), new technologies and new designs for the environment, from ensuring easy disassembly to phasing out
toxic substances.
Surveys repeatedly show IT professionals struggle to include green criteria in their mix of drivers, even to redefine
costs savings by looking at the total cost of ownership over time.
Yet the issue is starting to percolate up to senior management ranks and that creates an opportunity for
environment and office managers to open up a broader conversation about buying and optimising for environment.
Here’s some information to get you started.
Richard Collins
(Editor)
4. Towards sustainable
procurement
Green tech is no longer an ethical
concern alone; it is a financial
imperative for modern business,
writes Ian Birks of the Australian
Information Industry Association.
5. Buy green and be heard
Greener purchasing is a powerful
way to tell electronics manufacturers to clean up their
act, writes Tom Dowdell of Greenpeace International.
7. IT practices still only pale green
Business has merely plucked the low hanging fruit in
green IT, says a Fujitsu study, which highlights areas for
improvement. By Richard Collins.
8. Toyota drives Green IT
Toyota Australia’s Green IT Policy, which ranges from
procurement to disposal of equipment, aims to cut
carbon emissions and eliminate landfill of office-based
equipment. By James Scott.

12. Looking beyond the price tag
Auditing the total cost of ownership of your IT and office
equipment can reveal unexpected savings. Deborah Lloyd
shares some tips on how and why it’s worth it.
14. New light for e-waste recovery
Australia is on the brink of implementing an e-waste
scheme that could recycle up to 2.5 million tonnes of
materials by 2030/31.
16. Design and discovery on the
printer front
3M Australia brought in HP to reduce
the number of print and imaging
devices on its floor by 45%.
18. The path to greener
office equipment
People often purchase and
use office equipment in what
they believe is a cost-effective and
environmentally friendly way when in fact
what they are doing is exactly the opposite.
20. Ford’s lean, green IT machines
Ford researched its new green PC fleet with energy,
enthusiasm and a lot of expert help from EPEAT.
22. Optimising the IT environment
While a single computer uses little energy, scale that up
to corporate level and there are some significant savings
in optimising IT.
23. Inside the best of IT equipment
A snapshot of the leading products according to the US
Government EPEAT program.

24. Ranking the product providers
Where EPEAT drills down to rate individual products,
Greenpeace looks at corporate policies and performance.
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S
ustainable information and communication
technology (ICT) procurement spans everything from
the energy efficiency of individual products to the
environmental impact of disposed equipment, with much
ground in between. The good news is that developing
an environmentally sustainable industry has been a
long-term priority for the technology sector in Australia.
During the past decade, Australia has made a great

deal of progress towards an environment in which
vendors can demonstrate high-quality credentials and
purchasers can make informed decisions about the
environmental impact of technology systems.
At the highest level, ICT currently accounts for about
2.7% of Australian emissions. This figure is likely
higher for the average business, translating into higher
electricity costs. Green tech is no longer an ethical
concern alone; it is a financial imperative for modern
business. The growth of technology and its pervasiveness
in modern life means energy consumption and mitigation
are a high priority for both individual businesses and the
broader economy.
There is now a more robust understanding among the
vendor and business community about ‘Green in’ ICT and
‘Green through’ ICT. The popularity of virtual networks,
the concept of cloud computing, software as a service
and the trend to product light-weighting driven by mobility
are just some of the examples we can cite in a vast
arena.
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT POWER
At an industry level, the Australian Information Industry
Association (AIIA) has been working with the Federal
Government to finalise an agreement on appropriate
Minimum Energy Performance Standards for technology
equipment. This is based on the US Energy Star Program.
To its credit, the federal Environment Department, in
conjunction with the Department of Finance and with the
support of the AIIA, has published a whole-of-government
ICT Sustainability Plan that includes the adoption of the

US’s EPEAT program. Essentially, this is a system to
guide responsible procurement for government agencies
based on a range of sustainability criteria.
The government is seeking alignment to this approach
through its ICT Sustainability Plan, which means the
energy efficiency standards and other environmental
guidelines we develop as an industry or with the
assistance of government (regulatory or voluntary) are
recognised as a benchmark and provide a market driver
for ingraining sustainability measures into procurement
decisions as a whole.
Demonstration of green credentials is
essential to procurement programs that seek
to maximise environmental outcomes. The aim
is to provide purchasers at all levels, whether
individuals, businesses or government,
with the ability to make informed decisions
about the sustainability of their technology
procurement, and assessment through this
tool should be encouraged by purchasers. Over
time, the corporate community and consumers
will benefit from this approach.
IT’S ENVIRONMENTAL ELEMENTS
While efficiency and emissions reduction
are increasing priorities for government and
Towards sustainable information
technology procurement
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WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

Green tech is no longer an ethical concern alone; it is a financial imperative for
modern business, writes Ian Birks of the Australian Information Industry Association.
ManageMent of
consuMption
and deMand and
appropriate weighting
of environMental
criteria in purchasing
evaluation is essential
– ian Birks, the chief itc
industry officer.
W
e all make decisions every day that carry great
importance for the environmental health of
the planet. Every dollar spent is a political
statement, like it or not.
IT purchasing managers have an especially powerful
voice when it comes to telling electronics manufacturers
that the time has long passed when it was acceptable
to offer products that contain toxic chemicals and are
energy inefficient.
Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics is an
excellent tool to use when trying to decide which
companies offer the greenest products (more on

Pg 25). It shows which companies have made the
most progress towards products that are free from
hazardous substances such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC)
and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and towards
voluntary take-back of
their end-of-life products
globally.
There are considerably
more products on the
market today than when
the first edition of the
guide was launched in
2006. Companies are in
the process of translating
these commitments into
products on the market
– for example, leaders
such as Apple, HP, Nokia
and Sony Ericsson have
completed the phase-out
of PVC and BFRs from
whole product lines.
Purchasing managers
can speed up the action
of these companies by
rewarding those that have
changed and telling the
laggards they won’t get
any business until they
follow suit.

Why does this all
matter? To begin with,
millions of tonnes of
e-waste are dumped
every year in some of the
world’s poorest countries,
often being burnt in
open pit fires to obtain
scrap metal. We are also
facing a climate crisis
purchasing
Managers can
speed up the
action of these
coMpanies By
rewarding
those that
have changed
and telling the
laggards they
won’t get any
Business until
they follow suit.
– toM dowdell
Every dollar
spent is a political
statement, like it
or not

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

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business, it is only one of many elements required to
assess the environmental impact of technology. E-waste
and the disposal of end-of-life equipment has become a
global issue in recent years and with constant innovation
often leading to high levels of equipment turnover, it is
now an essential consideration.
AIIA has been trialling a viable end-of-life equipment and
recycling scheme (Byteback) for a number of years that
has recently been accepted as the basis for a national
scheme, following the announcement of legislation by the
Environment Minister late last year.
The scheme will be based on a partnership between
industry, government and the community through which
ICT companies join an eligible Product Stewardship
Organisation (PSO). Through the PSO, brands will be able
to guarantee that all equipment sold by them into the
Australian marketplace will be repurposed or responsibly
recycled – in current trials, more than 97% of e-waste
material is being successfully reclaimed.
Under the model for the national e-waste scheme,
individual brands will take responsibility for the products
they sell into the Australian marketplace. This, in turn,
provides a powerful incentive to improve the overall
product lifecycle in areas ranging from raw material
selection to designs that promote easy reuse and
recycling. As the scheme is rolled out nationally, brands
will increasingly be able to demonstrate this to the
market.
EDUCATION, AWARENESS, COMMITMENT

The ability to make informed procurement decisions,
of course, is only part of the story. Management of
consumption and demand and appropriate weighting
of environmental criteria in purchasing evaluation is
essential. Education, awareness and commitment to
these principles will be required to make it work.
The Federal Government now requires agencies to
adhere to mandatory environmental standards across six
key areas aligned with relevant international standards.
The power of government purchasing and leadership
has a strong effect on the market that will both drive
continued improvement in the industry marketplace as
well as increased demand and awareness for green
procurement across other industry sectors.
Lastly, it’s worth noting that technology will play a
key role in tackling emissions across the other 97% of
Australia’s greenhouse sources, which translates to even
more significant savings for individual businesses.
Sustainable ICT procurement is not just about making
informed decisions on the footprint and lifecycle of
individual pieces of equipment. The strategic decisions
that an organisation makes in the acquisition of
technology can have a huge impact on its overall
environmental footprint.
A ‘smart’ printer may halve the carbon impact and costs
of running a traditional printer; smart building systems
can potentially do the same for an entire organisation.
Similarly, the introduction of teleworking and intelligent
transport and logistics systems, among many others,
have the potential to deliver exponential environmental

and financial benefits to any business.
Finally, AIIA has released a Green IT eBook – the first
of its kind in Australia – that provides a detailed analysis
of how to develop environmentally sustainable business
through technology.
Ian Birks is CEO of the Australian Information Industry
Association (www.aiia.com.au). More on EPEAT on Pg 24.
Greener purchasing is a powerful way to tell
electronics manufacturers to clean up their act,
writes Tom Dowdell of Greenpeace International.
aspectfurniture.com.au aspectfurniture.com.auschiavello.com.au
The Environmental Choice Australia Ecolabel has
provided architects, procurement and building industry
professionals with an independent and convenient way to
make environmentally preferable choices for green office
fit-outs since 2001.
GECA’s standards and licences are widely recognised
in Australia and trusted thanks to the consultative,
transparent, stringent and robust features underpinning
this program, developed in line with ISO14024 principles.
Many GECA certified products score maximum
points under the Green Building Council of
Australia’s Green Star rating scheme.
To find out how GECA can assist with your
sustainable procurement needs:
Call 61 02 6287 3100
Email
or visit www.geca.org.au
The GECA Ecolabel
Helping you make a Good Environmental Choice

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WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

and inefficient office devices
unnecessarily sap power that
urgently needs to be conserved.
Now, many companies,
including Acer, the Indian
companies Wipro and HCL,
Hewlett-Packard and Philips,
are offering smart phones,
computers, monitors and
televisions that are free of the
most toxic chemicals.
We are seeing similar gains in
product energy efficiency, and in
companies embracing the concept
of financial responsibility for their
products – and offering more
opportunities for convenient and
free take-back of their products.
This is especially crucial in areas
outside of the EU that do not yet
have e-waste collection laws.

Whenever you are purchasing
IT equipment, be it for the home,
office or entire company, you
can help make the electronics
industry more sustainable by
insisting on products with the
least hazardous substances, the
best recycling programs and the
most energy efficient.
There’s one voice we know
all companies listen to – their
customers. So it’s vital you make
sure they hear the demand for
truly greener products loud and
clear.
Tom Dowdell is a Greenpeace
climate and toxics campaigner.
there’s one voice we know all
coMpanies listen to – their custoMers.
so it’s vital you Make sure they hear
the deMand for truly greener
products loud and clear.

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
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B
usinesses have scored just 56.4% in
their readiness to embrace green IT,
according to a recent benchmarking
study of practices in the UK, US, India and

Australia.
The Fujitsu study is based on work by
Connection Research and RMIT University,
who surveyed more than 630 CIOs
and senior IT managers across various
industries in the four countries.
Fujitsu’s global sustainability executive
director, Alison Rowe, said “the results
of our benchmarking survey provide an
invaluable international perspective on
global best practice trends and enable
comparisons within countries against similar
organisations”.
It has benchmarked Green IT maturity
based on five criteria: green IT lifecycle
(procurement to disposal), end user
efficiencies, enterprise and datacentre
efficiencies, usage of IT as a low-carbon
enabler and measurement and monitoring.
Information and communication technology
is responsible for up to 60% of the energy use in
organisations. Of the industries studied, the finance
sector is the biggest user.
“The consumption of energy by IT within the financial
services sector is greater than in any other industry as
information systems – with large scale infrastructure,
data storage and transaction requirements – are central
to its operations. This makes energy sourcing, usage and
pricing important management issues,” says the report.
But even the financial sector in Australia is only in the

early stages of green IT, mostly just reaping the benefits
of quick wins at the end user level, such as turning PCs
off at night.
The Australian industry average score in terms of
the equipment lifecycle, which includes procurement,
disposal and recycling and reuse, is just 56%. That is
behind the industry in the UK and US, which both rate
over 63%.
And it is yet to really step up to using IT for
sustainable business at the broader ‘enterprise’ and
‘enablement’ levels, scoring 59% and 52% respectively.
For example, businesses would benefit from greater
strategic migration to the efficiencies of scale and
superior energy saving practices of datacentres and
the cloud.
But where industry is really falling short is in the area
of metrics. Measurement is a precondition of effective
energy and emissions management.
“Increasingly, IT practitioners are realising that
the general term Green IT is about specific areas of
operation, and that the key driver is cost. Energy costs,
as a proportion of IT budgets, are increasing substantially
in most countries. Green IT is an obvious and easy way
to improve the bottom line,” said Rowe.
Green IT is not a single action, policy or technology. It
comprises a number of aspects, in a number of different
disciplines. It is best implemented through a holistic
approach, in areas as diverse as procurement, end user
operations, data center management, and applications
implementation.

Fujistu argues the first step in this Green IT journey
is strategic alignment. Organisations need to ensure
their sustainable IT strategies align with overall strategic
objectives and gain executive endorsement. In turn, a
Green IT strategy should dovetail into the organisation’s
environmental sustainability strategy.
IT practices still only pale green
Business has merely plucked the low hanging fruit in green IT, says a Fujitsu study,
which highlights areas for improvement. By Richard Collins.
increasingly, it practitioners
are realising that the general
terM green it is aBout specific
areas of operation, and that
the key driver is cost
– alison rowe, fujitsu
There is still room to improve in all industries.
the Moore’s law of efficiency
The upside of the fast pace of IT renewal is efficiencies
come on board quickly. A study for the Climate Savers
Computing Initiative (CSCI), a wide-ranging coalition
started by Google and Intel to address “end-to-end
energy use”, claims emissions reductions of 32 million
tonnes in three years through equipment redesign.
“When CSCI was established in 2007, desktop
computers wasted 50% of the power coming from the
wall,” said CSCI president Lorie Wigle, Intel’s GM of
the Eco-Technology Program Office.
“Today, through the collective efforts of our
organisation, hardware manufacturers, large IT buyers
and other key partners, the IT sector has cut that

waste by at least 25% for new systems.”
E
nergy efficiency is a hot topic these days, but
Green IT at Toyota Australia means more than
finding servers that burn fewer watts; it is part
of the company’s plan to achieve environmental
leadership across the vehicle lifecycle.
We are a company focused on building and selling
vehicles, but we are also a company based on
technological innovation.
Across the company, environmental sustainability is
being embedded into everything we do – from every
aspect of our manufacturing operations; to the energy
efficiency of our vehicles; to the places where we sell
our cars. Consistent with this direction, the Information
Systems Division (ISD) has set an objective for Toyota
Australia to become the country’s leading organisation
in Green IT.
Toyota’s Green IT journey began in 2008 when ISD,
with assistance from the company’s Environment Policy
Group and strategic partner Fujitsu, audited all IT
equipment at the company’s corporate headquarters
to understand its baseline carbon emissions output
and to identify areas for improvement.
The audit concluded Toyota Australia was emitting
1,592 tonnes of CO
2
per year from its corporate
headquarters office equipment. It also gave
us a baseline to work from and provided broad

recommendations on what our targets and timing
should be for the whole organisation, as well as
actions to achieve them.
From there, we developed the company’s
first Green IT Policy. The policy
features four dimensions:
disposal of IT equipment,
infrastructure optimisation,
managing energy and
procurement. Each dimension
includes actions and targets
aimed at supporting ISD’s key targets,
such as reducing carbon emissions from office-based
equipment and operating systems by 20%.
To help ensure the policy and its actions were
embraced by ISD team members and Toyota
employees, it was presented to Toyota’s senior
management and the Environment Committee for
endorsement. This step was mission critical and gave
us the green light to begin to communicate our plans
and implement several Green IT initiatives across all
Toyota Australia sites.
PC POWER SAVINGS
The largest IT contributor to CO
2
emissions was Toyota’s
PC fleet, numbering about 2,100 devices. In June 2009,
Toyota enforced a policy whereby all PCs and notebooks
would switch to power save mode after 10 minutes of
inactivity. This resulted in an 8% CO

2
reduction and led to
a similar solution being deployed across the energy hungry
CAD PC fleet used by design engineers and stylists.
Other activities involved reprogramming multi-function
devices such as printers, copiers and scanners to switch
to panel off mode after two minutes, resulting in a 39%
reduction in emissions, and upgrading video conference
equipment with energy efficient LCD screens that switch
to low power mode when not used, reducing carbon
emissions by a further 51%.
ISD’s Green IT activities across end-user equipment
resulted in a 19.8% reduction, meaning the company
reduced its emissions from 1,592 tonnes of CO
2

in 2008−09 to 1,277 tonnes as at March 2010,
representing a cost saving of $16,170.
Although we fell short of our first target by 0.2%, ISD
was very satisfied with the results. We learnt a lot from
the project, including how important it is to engage
employees at all stages of the journey so that they are on
board, and how critical it is to have reliable measurement
Toyota Australia drives Green IT
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the audit concluded toyota
australia was eMitting 1,592 tonnes
of co
2
per year froM its corporate
headquarters office equipMent.
Toyota Australia’s Green IT Policy, which ranges from procurement to disposal of equipment, aims
to cut carbon emissions and eliminate landfill of office-based equipment. By James Scott.
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WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

methods or tools to accurately
calculate reductions.
The Green IT activities
conducted in year one effectively
picked the low hanging fruit and
achieved the deepest cuts to
CO
2
emissions. Designing it that
way meant the project achieved
several quick wins early on,
which increased momentum and
goodwill for the project among
employees.
We knew that further reductions wouldn’t be as easy to
achieve going forward, so we set a more modest target of
5%, which we anticipate will be achieved later this year.
ISD is now focused on reducing energy use across
Toyota’s back-end IT infrastructure through consolidating

the company’s servers and, where possible, adopting
virtualisation software that divides one physical server
into multiple environments so they run more efficiently.
IT GETS THE TREATMENT
Toyota employees are generally very supportive of ISD’s
efforts to reduce its environmental impact. The majority of
employees are 100% behind the project, but occasionally
we come across people who, for whatever reason,
don’t believe in what we are trying to do and that’s
disappointing. But it’s not many people and they serve
to remind us that we have more work to do in educating
employees about the benefits of going green.
Reducing energy use across IT equipment isn’t the only
focus of the Green IT Policy. ISD has agreements with our
service and IT equipment providers
to, where possible, recycle
equipment or dispose of it in an
environmentally conscious manner.
Our policy is that no Toyota
IT equipment should end up in
landfill. Therefore, we recycle
obsolete IT equipment through
registered IT equipment recyclers
and, on occasion, work with the
public affairs division and local
governments to donate equipment
to charity organisations that could benefit from its
extended use.
Toyota also considers the lifecycle of IT equipment
when renewing infrastructure and assesses a piece

of equipment’s energy use to inform decision-making
on new products. We actively seek out suppliers with
environmentally conscious credentials and strategies
and all IT sourcing decisions include an environment
impact assessment.
Balancing economic and environmental performance
to be green and competitive is a priority for Toyota.
Through this project, ISD has developed its understanding
that Green IT is a critical capability not only for improving
the environmental footprint of our business but also for
controlling the cost of IT infrastructure. ISD will continue
to set challenging targets and look for ways to continually
improve.
James Scott is the Chief Information Office (CIO) at
Toyota Australia.
Toyota Australia drives Green IT

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
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Victoria’s most sustainable organisations recognised
at the 2011 Premier’s Sustainability Awards
Eight organisations from a range of different sectors were awarded Victoria’s highest
honours in sustainability at the Premier’s Sustainability Awards in Melbourne on
Thursday, 9 July. The winners of each category were:
Built Environment Award Winner –
Grocon
Grocon has grown from a small family
concreting business to one of Australia’s
leading privately owned construction
and development companies.
Grocon’s Pixel building located at the
old Carlton Brewery site on Swanston
Street in Melbourne demonstrates what
offices may be like in the future.
The building has a number of
innovative features including:
A “living rooftop” with native Victorian
grasslands to lower temperatures and
create a green space for staff to relax
in methane gas from sewerage used to
heat office water.
Collected rainwater used to irrigate
the living rooftop, supply tap water and

recycle waste water.
The building is currently defined as
carbon neutral but will become “carbon
positive” within 50 years when it will
have paid back all of the carbon used
in its construction.
www.grocon.com.au/index2.htm
www.pixelbuilding.com.au/
Products or Services Award Winner
– Grocon
Grocon received a second award
for the development of Pixelcrete, a
‘green’ concrete substitute with the
same strength and use as conventional
concrete which was used in the
construction of its Pixel building.
Pixelcrete has achieved three points
under the Green Star rating system as
it contains a high portion of recycled
materials compared to traditional
concrete and uses less Portland cement
(the most commonly used cement).
David Waldren from Grocon said
that sustainability was one of Grocon’s
core values.
“We are conscious to include
sustainability in our everyday business
processes like recycling at our building
sites and reducing waste during
demolitions,” Mr Waldren said.

www.grocon.com.au/index2.htm
Community Award Winner – Hepburn
Wind
Hepburn Wind has built Australia’s
first community owned, cooperative
wind farm located at Leonards Hill
in Central Victoria.
The two newly-constructed turbines
will generate enough clean and safe
electricity to power all houses in the
Daylesford and surrounding area.
The wind farm will offset more than
12,200 tonnes of carbon emissions
per year, create local employment
opportunities and contribute an
estimated $1 million from the sale of
electricity back into the community
through their Community Sustainability
Fund.
Simon Holmes a Court from Hepburn
Wind said that winning the Premier’s
Sustainability Award highlighted how
the community-owned, renewable
energy movement was gaining
momentum here in Australia.
www.hepburnwind.com.au/
Large Business Award Winner and
Premier’s Recognition Award Winner
– Godfrey Hirst Australia
Godfrey Hirst Australia is the largest

carpet manufacturer and exporter in
the Southern Hemisphere.
The company has introduced a
number of industry best practice
sustainability initiatives over the
last seven years creating significant
environmental and economic
improvements.
For example, the company’s state-
of-the-art water recycling facility
reprocesses 175 million litres of
effluent water and 75 million litres of
captured storm water returning it to
Class A water for reuse. The facility
has also:
n
Reduced the company’s water
consumption by 50% – saving up
to 250 mega litres of water a year
(the equivalent of 250 Olympic-sized
swimming pools);
n
Cut energy use by 5% a year (15,712
billion joules);
n
Cut trade waste by up to 70% a year
(175 million litres);
Tim Maishman from Godfrey Hirst said
the company was thrilled to be named
as a finalist and to be awarded both the

Large Business Award and the Premier’s
Recognition Award.
www.godfreyhirst.com/home.html
Local Government Award Winner –
Whitehorse City Council
Whitehorse City Council’s Sustainable
Ambassadors Program was designed to
empower its residents to make simple
changes to their daily actions to spread
the sustainability message within the
community.
The program engaged more than
1,100 people in the Whitehorse
community in different sustainable
living projects where participants learnt
about energy, water, recycling and
waste efficiencies; ‘green’ cleaning;
and healthy lifestyle activities.
Acting General Manager City
Development, Ian Goodes, said
Whitehorse City Council had a long-
standing commitment to becoming
more sustainable and to helping
members of the community to lead
a more sustainable lifestyle.
www.whitehorse.vic.gov.au
Small Business Award Winner – 3Fish
3Fish provides ethical clothing,
including its own retail label, custom-
made items and off-the shelf corporate

wear, through a range of different
channels.
The cotton used is organic and
Fairtrade, using eco-friendly dyes
and inks.
Since its creation in 2008, 3Fish’s
principle has been to ‘do the right
thing’, making sure every decision it
makes is socially and environmentally
responsible – from the organic farming
techniques used to make their clothes
to the packaging they use to distribute
their clothing.
3Fish Co-Founder, Marty Dillon said that
winning the Premier’s Sustainability
Award helped to raise awareness
about the environmental degradation,
child labour and sweatshops that were
associated with the production of
conventional cotton garments.
www.3fish.com.au/
State Government Award Winner –
Department of Treasury and Finance
The Department of Treasury and
Finance’s Greener Government
Buildings program is an initiative that
targets the entire portfolio of existing
government facilities including offices,
schools, hospitals, TAFEs, prisons,
arts and cultural buildings.

The initiative aims to reduce the
Victorian Government’s environmental
impact and operational costs by
improving the energy and water
efficiency of government buildings
and infrastructure.
Luke Zha from the Department
of Treasury and Finance said DTF’s
mission – to provide leadership in
economic, financial and resource
management -acknowledged that
“we can’t spend beyond our means.”
www.dtf.vic.gov.au/
Tertiary Education Award Winner –
RMIT University
Melbourne-based RMIT University’s
Bachelor of Arts (Textile Design)
program re-examined textile design
practice and implemented a ‘Curriculum
Change to Embed Sustainability’ project.
The essence of the project was to look
at sustainability and how students could
embed it throughout the whole program.
The project began in 2009 to ensure
learning outcomes enabled RMIT
University graduates to leave the
program with increased awareness and
skills to implement sustainability within
their chosen careers.
Dr Jenny Underwood from RMIT said

that just being a finalist in the awards
had created great recognition for the
effort they had put into the program.
www.rmit.edu.au/
www.rmit.edu.au/textiledesign
The Hon Ryan Smith MP, Minister for Environment & Climate Change and Jill Risely, Group
Manager Sustainability for Sensis present the award to Marty and Nat Dillon at the Premier’s
Sustainability Awards 2011 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Dr Gillian Sparkes, The Hon. Ryan Smith MP, Tim Maishman, Eleanor Smith-
Waters, both of Godfrey Hirst and winners of the Premier’s Recognition Award,
Catirona Rowntree and Anita Roper, CEO Sustainability Victoria at the Premier’s
Sustainability Awards 2011 held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition
Centre on 9th June 2011.
David Waldren, General Manager Carlton
Brewery accepting the award at the Premier’s
Sustainability Awards 2011 at the Melbourne
Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Hon. Ryan Smith, Minister for Environment & Climate
Change and Mrs Inga Peulich, Parliamentary Secretary for
Education present the award to Simon Holmes a Court,
Chairman Hepburn Wind at the Premier’s Sustainability Awards
2011 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
T
he showroom price tag on every piece of office
equipment is only the tip of the iceberg in terms
of its full cost. Without knowing its true costs, both
direct and indirect, you’re operating in the dark.
If you’re going to the trouble of purchasing cleaner,
greener machines for your office, why not measure what
you’re changing by tracking your progress? It’s only by

knowing what you’re spending in money and energy costs
right now that you can establish where your greatest
savings can be gained and track improvements over time.
Establishing the total cost of ownership (TCO) of
your office equipment makes practical sense. At its
most basic, it is a tally of initial purchase price, energy
consumption per hour for each piece of equipment, the
cost of the consumables for that equipment and ongoing
service costs.
Some would have you factor in the full lifecycle of the
equipment – for example, PCs use more energy and
resources in their manufacture than in their average
three-year lifetime – but this is of little practical value.
What is more relevant is that even at current electricity
prices the energy costs over the lifetime of the equipment
will exceed the purchase cost. In a TCO audit, you are
measuring the energy consumption of a machine, as well
as other ongoing costs to give you a total ownership cost.
1. Determine what you are going to measure and why:
When it comes to the what, measure:
n
Total electricity usage − including lights and air
conditioning; and
n
Only machines that allow employees to do their jobs,
such as computers, printers, photocopiers and the like.
In terms of why, reasons may include:
n
To track energy efficiency over time;
n

To determine where and when new equipment should be
purchased;
n
To comply with supplier or customer demand or
stakeholder requirements;
n
To meaningfully add sustainable practices for
competitive advantage; and
n
To enhance sales, your brand and reputation.
2. Determine what you need to do to get the job done:
Select a working party (if appropriate) and establish the
Looking beyond the price tag
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possiBle principles
When it comes to procuring equipment, consumables
and support services, consider developing a set of
overarching guidelines. Some principles include:
n
Three key purchasing considerations are environment,
price and performance;
n
Will the manufacturer of the product manufacture,
distribute and dispose of it in an environmentally
sustainable way?;

n
Are suppliers signatories to the Australian Packaging
Covenant, or do they have their own procedures in place
to reduce packaging?;
n
All consumables should be recycled or, if purchased
new, disposed of in a way that recycles components;
n
Purchased equipment must feature two or more
environmental attributes, not just one. For example,
a new printer should not just use lower than standard
energy, but also be capable of duplex printing and use
recycled paper without affecting warranty; and
n
Choose only suppliers of products and services that
encourage and do not inhibit recycled components.
Auditing the total cost of ownership of your IT and office equipment can reveal unexpected savings.
Here, Deborah Lloyd shares some tips on how and why it’s worth it.
12
WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

project management fundamentals such as meetings
and timelines, with deliverable outcomes.
3. Workforce engagement: Because this procedure will
involve counting, clipboards, turning machines over and
asking for information, don’t forget to ensure all staff
know this procedure is about to occur and why.
An internal communiqué setting the motives and
intended outcomes will help ensure staff is on-side and
willing to provide information when the working party

comes calling.
4. Tally each piece of equipment: Include the make,
model and serial number of each unit, including the date
and the name/position of the person or department who
uses that piece of equipment.
Note the reason the equipment has been provided
and also if machines are networked or stand-alone,
as this will be important when you come to consider
rationalising machinery within a networked office.
5. Audit the energy consumption of each piece of
equipment: You will need to work out the kilowatt hours
(kWh) used by every machine. Determine how often on
average each machine is used, switched off and on
stand-by (or in hibernation mode).
The energy consumption of a machine can either be
determined by simply asking the manufacturer, or through
a stamp found on most machines. A 1,000 watt machine
operating for one hour will use 1kWh.
If you require an independent method of finding out the
electricity usage of each machine, it may be worthwhile
investing in an energy measuring device − there are a
range of options on the market but the best known is the
‘Kill-a-Watt’.
6. What are you spending on consumables?: A
key determinant of your TCO is the ongoing cost of
consumables required to operate the equipment, such as
paper and toner in a printer. Therefore record:
n
Exactly what consumables are used per piece of
equipment;

n
How much or how many items are used on average?
Use a verifiable source for this information, such as
purchase orders or receipts from the supplier;
n
The unit price of each − new and recycled;
n
Is the item recycled and is the end product thrown away
or recycled again; and
n
Find out your ‘cartridge yield’ − printed sheets per
cartridge − from the manufacturer, particularly if you are
using their supplied cartridges.
7. Service costs: Service arrangements are another key
component of the TCO and, for many workplaces, an
ongoing maintenance agreement is vital for business and
productivity.
Yet not all your equipment may be serviced in the
same way. The most common methods of ensuring office
equipment can be serviced in a timely manner are by:
n
Manufacturers’ warranties (record when these are due
to expire);
n
An extended warranty (usually offered through a retailer
or manufacturer at the time of purchase); and
n
A service or maintenance agreement with a specialist
service provider.
Determine cost of service maintenance per piece of

equipment. By collating the monthly energy usage of a
piece of equipment with the monthly cost of consumables
and services, you will determine the TCO.

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
13
cost versus Benefit in efficiency
The Climate Savers Computing Initiative says high-
efficiency computer systems may cost slightly more than
standard systems; in the US the cost premium today
for Energy Star desktop computers appears to be about
US$20 per unit.
However, a saving of just 20−30 watts in power
consumption translates into a saving of 60kWh per
year for a desktop that is on 2,000 hours per year. At
$0.0885/kWh, that translates into a saving of $5.31
in direct energy costs. Factor in the savings on air
conditioning costs and the total saving is more than
$7 per year.
Payback will occur in three years; the return on
investment for servers will be significantly quicker as
they remain turned on all the time.
About 97% of Apple’s carbon footprint is directly related to its products, prompting efforts to reduce materials and packaging,
boost energy efficient and recyclability and eliminate many toxic substances.
U
p to 50 million tonnes of e-waste is generated
worldwide each year, according to the United
Nations Environment Program, and the figure is
expanding at 8% a year, calculates BCC research.
More than 1,000 materials, including solvents,

brominated flame retardants, PVC, heavy metals, plastics
and gases, are used to make electronic products and
their components − semiconductor chips, circuit boards
and disk drives.
A US EPA commissioned study noted “approximately
70% of the heavy metals in municipal solid waste landfills
are estimated to come from electronics discards”.
While the industry focuses its environmental guns on
energy efficiency, green groups such as the Basel Action
Network, Greenpeace and our own Total Environment
Centre are considerably more vocal about toxic waste.
In a significant step in recognition of the growing
problem, a Product Stewardship Act was approved by
Parliament on June 22 and the first scheme off the rank
will target computers and TVs.
The National Television and Computer Product
Stewardship Scheme will require importers and
manufacturers to fund and implement national
collection and recycling of TVs, computers and computer
peripherals. It aims to increase the recycling rate for
TVs and computers to 80% by 2020/21 and proposes a
penalty of up to $110,000 for companies failing to meet
their scheme obligations, increasing by 10% for each day
the breach continues.
The Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA)
and the TV industry body Product Stewardship Australia
(PSA) have agreed to operate as a single entity called
the Product Stewardship Organisation (PSO) representing
70−80% of leading brand importers from both sectors.
Since 2010, 11 member companies have invested about

$500,000 in developing a framework for a national
scheme, from Acer to Fuji Xerox.
John Gertsakis, executive director of the PSA, expects
“regulations or an exposure draft of the e-waste specific
regulations towards the end of July”.
While there are plenty of details still to be thrashed
out, there will almost certainly be some kind of up-front
recovery fee imposed at the point of sale to finance the
scheme. The regulatory impact statement on the scheme
last year said it “cannot be justified solely on resource
recovery grounds [as] recycling TVs and computers
costs approximately $970 per tonne, but the value of
the resources recovered is between $300 and $400 per
tonne”.
Gertsakis said the PSO and industry groups like Sims
Metal Management and others “will roll out take-back
programs in all major cities across Australia within a year,
and then move on to regional and rural areas within five
years”.
Assuming that at least 70% of televisions and
computers are recycled, up from the current 10%, it is
estimated that between 2.2 million and 2.5 million tonnes
of materials could be recycled by 2030/31.
New light for e-waste recovery
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
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Australia is on the brink of implementing an e-waste scheme that could recycle
up to 2.5 million tonnes of materials by 2030/31. By Richard Collins.
14
WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

Glass
SELECTED MATERIALS PRODUCT USE END OF LIFESELECTED (SUB) COMPONENTS
Backlight LCD
CRT
CPU
Keyboard
Desktop
computer
Packaging
Glass
Incineration
(product)
Landfill
(product)
Recycling
(product)
Recycling
(packaging)
Incineration
(packaging)
Landfill
(packaging)
Steel
Resin
Flame retardents

Solder
Lead
Paint
Lacquer
Pkg (paper/
cardboard
Pkg (plastic/
resin)
PWBs
Batteries
Cables/Adaptors
Courtesy: EPEAT
COMPOSITION OF A PERSONAL DESKTOP COMPUTER
Name Content Recycling Weight of Use/location
(% of total Efficiency Material (kg)
weight) (current recyclability)
Plastics 22.9907 20% 6.26 Includes organics, oxides other than silica
Lead 6.2988 5% 1.7 Metal joining, radiation shield/CRT,PWB
Aluminum 14.1723 80% 3.85 Structural, conductivity/housing, CRT, PWB, connectors
Germanium 0.0016 0% <0.04 Semiconductor/PWB
Gallium 0.0013 0% <0.04 Semiconductor/PWB
Iron 20.4712 80% 5.6 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing, CRT, PWB
Tin 1.0078 70% 0.27 Metal joining/PWB, CRT
Copper 6.9287 90% 1.9 Conductivity/CRT, PWB, connectors
Barium 0.0315 0% <0.04 Vacuum tube/CRT
Nickel 0.8503 80% 0.23 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing, CRT, PWB
Zinc 2.2046 60% 0.6 Battery, phosphor emitter/PWB, CRT
Tantalum 0.0157 0% <0.04 Capacitors/PWB, power supply
Indium 0.0016 60% <0.04 Transistor, rectifiers/PWB
Vanadium 0.0002 0% <0.04 Red phosphor emitter/CRT

Terbium < 0 0% <0 Green phosphor activator, dopant/CRT, PWB
Beryllium 0.0157 0% <0.04 Thermal conductivity/PWB, connectors
Gold 0.0016 99% <0.04 Connectivity, conductivity/PWB, connectors
Europium 0.0002 0% <0.04 Phosphor activator/PWB
Titanium 0.0157 0% <0.04 Pigment, alloying agent/(aluminum) housing
Ruthenium 0.0016 80% <0.04 Resistive circuit/PWB
Cobalt 0.0157 85% <0.04 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing, CRT, PWB
Palladium 0.0003 95% <0.04 Connectivity, conductivity/PWB, connectors
Manganese 0.0315 0% <0.04 Structural, magnetivity/(steel) housing, CRT, PWB
Silver 0.0189 98% <0.04 Conductivity/PWB, connectors
Antinomy 0.0094 0% <0.04 Diodes/housing, PWB, CRT
Bismuth 0.0063 0% <0.04 Wetting agent in thick film/PWB
Chromium 0.0063 0% <0.04 Decorative, hardener/(steel) housing
Cadmium 0.0094 0% <0.04 Battery, blue-green phosphor emitter/housing, PWB, CRT
Selenium 0.0016 70% 0.0004 Rectifiers/PWB
Niobium 0.0002 0% <0.04 Welding alloy/housing
Yttrium 0.0002 0% <0.04 Red phosphor emitter/CRT
Rhodium < 0 50% <0. Thick film conductor/PWB
Platinum < 0 95% <0.04 Thick film conductor/PWB
Mercury 0.0022 0% <0.04 Batteries, switches/housing, PWB
Arsenic 0.0013 0% <0.04 Doping agents in transistors/PWB
Silica 24.8803 0% 6.8 Glass, solid state devices/CRT, PWB
Source: Handy & Harman Electronic Materials

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
15
Environment Business Media
Okay, let’s get back to basics
www.ecoswitch.com.au
You want your people to be able to turn off appliances at

the wall, right? But the switch is too hard to reach, yes?
Well, employ a few EcoSwitches around the office and you can have your
power switches somewhere easy to reach – never have to fumble around
behind the furniture or forget to turn off again!
Practical, simple to install and no-brainer easy to use with:
anything that stays warm or has a light that stays on after you’ve turned it off.
No batteries required. No programming. Low profile plug. Mounting hardware
included. A multi-award winning Australian innovation. 12 months Warranty.
For bulk purchases contact and mention this Essentials Guide
• Powerboardsofequipment
• Printers,modems,routers,speakers
• AudioVisualequipment
• Watercoolersandurns
• Unnecessaryclockseg.onmicrowaves
• Computers
• Photocopiers
• Yourcoffeemachine
• Left-onrechargerplug-packs
• Fishtanks
RRP
$19.95
3
M Australia was running a multi-vendor
fleet of 130 office devices at its
headquarters in Pymble, NSW, from fax
machines and scanners to photocopiers and
standalone printers. It was not only complex
but also expensive to manage and maintain, so
the company negotiated a five-year Managed
Print Services (MPS) contract with Hewlett-

Packard.
Under the agreement, 3M pays a monthly
fee consisting of a base rate and a ‘click charge’ based
on actual page volumes. The agreement also covers print
cartridges and repair/maintenance services.
The benefits started with the consolidation of its fleet.
HP Multifunction Printers (MFP) and LaserJets reduced
the device count down to 72. HP and 3M worked together
on a design and discovery exercise that established
the workflow requirements and resulted in a balanced
deployment of machines across the offices.
They are remotely managed by HP Web Jetadmin, a
web-based remote management solution that increases
uptime by flagging potential faults and
monitoring ink and toner levels.
All up, the agreement has saved the
manufacturer of Post-It notes $170,000 a year.
THE GLOBAL RECKONING
3M Australia also shared in a number of benefits its
parent, 3M Group, has achieved with a global MPS
agreement with HP.
It has cut the device count across the entire company
by approximately 47% and reduced printer energy use by
more than 75%. Global page costs were cut by up to 90%,
with 3M Group printing an estimated 353 million fewer
pages over a three-year period.
With printers calibrated to go into sleep mode after a
certain period of inactivity, reduced energy consumption
brought cost savings of more than US$1.2 million ($1.1m)
over three years.

Using less paper and power lowered the company’s
CO
2
emissions by an estimated 8,240 tonnes. HP also
recycles every one of its printer cartridges through the HP
Plant Partners Recycling program.
FROM PAPER TO DIGITAL
The third step in the evolution is to manage and improve
workflow. One way 3M Australia is achieving this is to use
the scanning capabilities of MFPs in conjunction with a
Perceptive Software document management application to
replace paper records with electronic files.
“We take documents like faxed orders and convert them
into TIF files and also use the HP MFPs to scan other
paper documents, which are then stored as archived
e-files rather than in paper form,” said Ross Murphy, Asia
Pacific infrastructure manager for 3M Australia.
“This has brought huge customer service-based savings
and also means that we have been able to get rid of
approximately 45 filing cabinets full of archived paper
orders and invoices.”
Also, 3M Australia has introduced an Adobe forms
solution that uses HP printers to create templates to
generate invoices and other documentation.
“Preparing shipping documentation used to involve a
lot of manual operations,” adds Murphy. “Now, the forms
solution takes those documents and puts them together
so a delivery note and things like hazardous goods
notifications come straight out of the printer together,
which brings some real efficiencies into the shipping

office.”
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3M Australia brought in HP to reduce the number
of print and imaging devices on its floor by 45%.
Richard Collins reports on the sizable savings.
16
WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

hp’s printing environMent
self-assessMent
1. Do you know your organisation’s true burdened
cost of printing? Have you benchmarked it against
industry norms?
2. Is your organisation interested in reducing its
carbon footprint? If so, do you know the impact
imaging and printing has on your carbon footprint?
Are you aware of potential energy savings?
3. Have you established imaging and printing
environment metrics and goals?
4. Have you determined, gathered and analysed the
data needed to help you build a plan and a business
case for change?
5. Have you built a plan to prepare your people for
the changes you seek? Does your plan address
environmental sustainability?

6. Do you have a roadmap and a partnership with
your vendor(s) that integrates print management
initiatives into your IT strategic imperatives?
7. Are you enlisting the expertise and experience that
will ensure your imaging and printing environment is
optimised and well-managed over time?
8. Are your IT resources maximising the power of
available network print management tools?
9. Are you regularly using key tools to track your
progress against environmental goals?
10. How effectively is your organisation using
its imaging and printing environment as a digital
‘on-ramp’ and ‘off-ramp’ to its applications?
all up, the
agreeMent
has saved
3M australia
$170,000 a
year
Design and discovery
on the printer front

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
17
a datacentre in a Box
The rise of the modular data
centre has continued with the June
announcement of Hewlett-Packard’s
EcoPOD or Performance Optimised
Datacentre.

The 930 square metre containerised
datacentre promises benefits in
terms of space, cost, flexibility and
“near-perfect” energy efficiency.
HP says it packs 10 times the IT
capacity into a package that uses
up to 95% less energy and has a
power usage effectiveness as low
as 1.05.
It has been optimised for cooling as
a system, with all the components
designed to interoperate and
intelligently share cooling and power
resources. It employs HP Adaptive
Cooling Technology to adjust the
cooling based on the client’s policy,
IT load and climate, and uses
hot-aisle and cold-aisle containment
to further boost efficiency.
The EcoPOD has lifecycle benefits
too, as it is designed to be updated internally when
servers, storage and networking technology changes,
eliminating the need for a complete datacentre refit
every few years.
Others going down the modular path include Dell,
Cisco, IBM and Schneider Electric.
If YOUR organisation
is interested in:
n
 Reducing costs

n
 Reducing consumption and waste
n
 Benchmarking your progress in
sustainable procurement against
international best practice
n
 Assessing the sustainability
credentials of your supply chain
and you aren’t yet working with
ECO-Buy then please get in touch.
Whether you are wondering how to
get started, or are well on the way
to making sustainable procurement
‘business as usual’, our eleven years
specialist experience will make your
journey easier.
ECO-Buy
www.ecobuy.org.au
(03) 9349 0444
Celebrating Success at the 2011 ECO-Buy
Awards – Green Supplier of the Year KeepCup
The path to greener office equipment
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People often purchase and use office equipment in what they believe is a cost-effective and

environmentally friendly way when in fact what they are doing is exactly the opposite.
18
WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

Printer consolidation saves consumables and
energy by reducing the number of devices the
printer fleet. Consider elimination of inkjet or other
high-cost printers, sharing workgroup printers and going
with multi-function devices. Aim for a ratio of one device
per 10 or more users.
Multifunction devices (MFDs) come in many sizes.
The larger ones let you add on capabilities as you
need them and are good for a growing business or to
add functions as older machines are retired.
The US Energy Star program qualifies fax machines,
copiers, printers, scanners, mailing machines and
MFDs, each with their own total energy consumption
specifications. The ‘Green Office Guide’ says approved
products can cut electricity bills up to 80% and air
conditioning bills by 20-30%. (See graph)
Large copy/print centres should be digitally
networked so documents can be scanned and
emailed to people’s inboxes, saving on paper and toner.
Similarly, sending and receiving faxes from your computer
will save paper and time – simply install special software
for the task and have access to a phone line.
Printers and copiers should have the capability of
printing double sided (duplex) and multiple pages
onto one sheet. Mandate double-sided printing by setting
defaults for printers, copiers and fax machines. The

US Department of Energy (DOE) estimates a duplexing
copier can reduce lifetime energy costs by up to 1,138
kWh. The ‘Green Office Guide’ says every 100 reams
of recycled office paper that is printed double-sided
saves two trees, more than a tonne of greenhouse gas
and almost a cubic metre of landfill space compared to
conventional practices.
Most office machines have power saving
capabilities most of us remain unaware of – set as
the default setting such as go into sleep or hibernation
mode after a period of inactivity. And turn it off at the
wall for real savings.
Choose a scanner that uses LED (light emitting
diode) for image scanning rather than lamps. LED
technology is brighter, faster and produces a crisper
document image, but uses 70% less energy than
conventional lamps.
Your costs and savings can be monitored and
controlled with modern copiers. You can track every
copied page by using a PIN (individual usage), project
numbers (costs per project or job), client numbers (cost
per customer). You can remind users of both budgetary
and environmental considerations before they press
start.
Purchase machines that, at end of life, will be
reused or recycled by the manufacturer. Similarly,
select a photocopier with a high recycled material
content and that makes use of recycled components.
The noise of office equipment is often overlooked
but may be distracting for staff working nearby. Ask

manufacturers to provide information on operating noise
levels in idle mode, during operating and while sleep.
ISO 9296 is the standard for “declared noise emission
values of computer and business equipment” and
specifies reporting maximum values of the A-weighted
sound power levels in decibels.
PRINTERS AND TONERS
At first glance, toner cartridges don’t seem
recyclable, but up to 95% of the components of
a toner cartridge can be recycled, including plastics,
metal, rubber. On the flipside, over 3.4 litres of oil is
needed to make just one new laser print cartridge, so
choose a supplier that provides remanufactured toner
cartridges and takes your empty ones for recycling.
Ensure though that it will not affect the validity of your
warranty. The same goes for recycled paper; some copier
manufacturers, such as Canon and Fuji Xerox, will specify
the brands of recycled paper they approve.
Packaging of printer cartridges can feature plastic,
cardboard and polystyrene, which often goes
to landfill. Choose a supplier that can provide your
cartridges in packaging that can either be easily recycled,
such as cardboard packing pellets, or take it away
themselves.
Heat, which is used to fuse the toner to the paper,
is a key energy consumption point, prompting
equipment manufacturers to focus on it in their R&D.
Keeping the operating components of your photocopier
warm or on standby ready for immediate copying
uses from 15 to 400 watts of electricity, so consider

machines that warm up quickly and can be switched off
when not in use.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
4
Assessing photocopiers producing 1000 copies per day.
Source: Green Office Guide.

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
19
leasing versus Buying
The rapid advance in office technology –
machines are generally considered obsolete
after only three years – means deciding whether
to lease or buy is an important consideration,
including in terms of raising the bar on energy
efficiency and total operating costs.
Often, the finance department will dictate the
arrangement based on its perception of the

best financial model, but there are pros and
cons to each.
The principal attraction of leasing is the low
capital expenditure required to procure state of
the art office machinery precisely when needed.
You can take advantage of the most efficient
models without paying the high entry price for
all new-to-market technologies.
In addition, having a three year lease will often
serve as a reminder to an organisation to
revisit their machinery requirement, refine their
procurement policy, reset or reaffirm goals and
then upgrade as necessary.
When the lease period is completed the
organisation typically has full ownership of
that piece of equipment to keep, reuse or to
dispose of.
On the other hand, outright purchase can yield
financial rewards as the initial outlay is less
than the long-term cost of a lease arrangement.
ENVIRONMENTAL PURCHASING CHECKLIST
Key environmental purchasing criteria in the Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines.
Information required from companies
•Specify the power consumption rate of the equipment in watts while
the machine is a) operating b) in sleep mode (where applicable) c) on
standby and not in sleep mode (where applicable) d) switched off, but
power point still on.
•List any components that would normally need replacing during the
product’s working life, stating replacement frequency and the unit
cost, including of any remanufactured versions of the consumable.

•Specify the weight of equipment (kg), including all add-ons, to meet
requirements.
•Can it be upgraded subsequent to purchase?
•Percentage weight of the equipment that is remanufactured/recycled.
•And can it be returned at end of life for guaranteed remanufacturing
or recycling?
•List the types of packaging used in delivering the product, including
bulk delivery.
•Specify total packaging weight per unit product, proportion of
recycled material, whether it can be recycled locally and if you will
take back the packaging for reuse or recycling.
•Describe any disposal advice on your product packaging.
•Does it include any loose fill material?
•Is the your company is a signatory to the Australian Packaging
Covenant?
•Specify the noise level during printing/operation.
•Provide appropriate documentation to support any claims made.
Consideration will be
given to equipment
With low overall
energy consumption
That reduces overall waste and
uses fewer resources
With low environmental impact
packaging (if significant)
With low operating noise levels
Document additional
environmental benefits of
products/company
55-65%

15-25%
0-10%
5-15%
0-10%
Weighting
F
ord has more than 100,000 personal computers
(PCs) in use every day across its global operations.
They are typically replaced on a rolling basis, to keep
pace with technology advancements.
In 2010, the ‘PC renewal’ planning team was in the
initial stage of creating a Request for Quote (RFQ) for
the next wave of PC purchases and was interested in
incorporating sustainability criteria into the RFQ process.
At the same time, another group of IT employees who
devote 1−2 hours a week to sustainability-related efforts
were looking for a project with a long-term, tangible impact
on sustainability within IT.
The two teams, along with employees in IT Purchasing,
were brought together by the IT Supplier Relationship
Management department. The challenge they set out to
meet was: could a sustainability-focused PC purchase
decision reduce Ford’s environmental footprint and costs,
while still meeting all other computing requirements?
GREENING FORD’S PC REQUIREMENTS
In the past, Ford’s RFQs for PCs have focused on
functionality, service, quality and price. The team’s first
task was to research and understand what makes a PC
‘green’ and then translate their findings into a set of
specific, quantifiable requirements and questions for RFQ

responders.
They would then have a consistent way to evaluate and
compare suppliers’ responses.
“Green can mean a lot of different things,” said team
member Eric Wingfield, “so we needed to ensure that
we looked for broadly accepted industry standards upon
which to build a credible set of questions that could allow
the team to fairly compare suppliers’ green offerings.”
They began by understanding Ford’s current
expectations of suppliers around sustainability and then
benchmarking the way other organisations incorporate
environmental criteria into their PC purchases.
The US EPA, which runs the Energy Star Program,
turned out to be a good resource for data on various
standards globally. It also led the team to the Energy
Performance and Environmental Assessment Tool
(EPEAT), a set of global standards and an accompanying
certification process that provides a comprehensive list of
sustainability criteria.
EPEAT became the foundation upon which Ford built
its own requirements. It provided a credible certification
system for assessing PC suppliers’ compliance with
sustainability criteria as certified EPEAT manufacturers are
independently verified by the Green Electronics Council.
The EPEAT standards are comprehensive, requiring
environmental responsibility throughout the supply chain,
including designs that manage the end-of-life concerns,
reuse or recycling, where there is a great impact on the
environment.
They are also completely aligned with Ford’s own

environmental standards for its vehicles and operations,
from sustainable materials and end-of-life issues to
energy use reductions and reduced packaging and waste.
Ford’s lean, green IT machines
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
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Ford researched its new green PC fleet with energy, enthusiasm and a lot of expert help from EPEAT.
20
WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

Ford has more than
100,000 personal
computers (PCs).
EPEAT was also recognised in 49 countries. According
to the rules, a manufacturer cannot sell a certified model
in one country and then sell an uncertified version of the
same model in countries with lower regulatory standards.
This provided some assurance that the same level of
compliance would be attained no matter where the
product was delivered globally.
PUTTING GREEN PC RENEWAL INTO ACTION
In the second quarter of 2010, the RFQs were sent
to potential global PC suppliers. They were asked to
specify the level of EPEAT certification their products had
attained, along with other sustainability, technical and
commercial questions important to Ford.

Nearly all of the PCs in the suppliers’ quoted offerings
met the EPEAT Gold standard. The team then looked to
the remaining sustainability, technical and commercial
questions to determine a choice.
Due to the high performance of all of the potential
suppliers, sustainability-related responses were not a
differentiator in decision-making. The responses did,
however, prove a valuable benchmark of potential
suppliers’ capabilities and products, and provided
important data for comparing energy savings between
suppliers and with prior technologies.
The next step was to create contract language that
would require continued compliance with the EPEAT
standard. The team worked closely with IT Contracts, the
Office of General Counsel and IT Purchasing to develop
contract language that requires the chosen PC provider to
show how they will continue to meet EPEAT standards and
Ford’s other requirements throughout the contract.
ASSESSING GREEN PC BENEFITS
The purchase of the PCs will result in a wide range of
concrete benefits. For example, they use significantly less
energy than previous models and will be responsible for
fewer greenhouse emissions.
They also will be safer for Ford employees to operate
because they are low in volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) and thus produce less “off-gassing” during use.
The more eco-friendly composition of the PCs and
a responsible end-of-life disposal process will reduce
the likelihood that materials of concern will get into
the environment at end of life. For example, the EPEAT

standard ensures the computers are lead-free.
The team is now turning its attention to an opportunity
to work with Ford’s facilities management division – Ford
Land – to assess the actual energy savings. Other large
organisations using EPEAT-certified computers boast
energy savings of nearly US$2 million per year but Ford
expects to save somewhat less because it has already
implemented some PC energy management programs.
Ford’s lean, green IT machines

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
21
the teaM’s first task was to
research and understand what
Makes a pc ‘green’ and then
translate their findings into
a set of specific, quantifiaBle
requireMents and questions
for rfq responders
australia’s number 1 recycling bin system
www.ecobin.com.au
waste stations
60 Litre Capacity
56.5cm high 36cm wide & 29.5cm deep
Bins $19.95 each Lids $4.95 each
30 Litre Capacity
(Mixed Recyclables only)
34cm high 36cm wide & 29.5cm deep
Bins $14.95 each Lids $4.95 each
Degradable Bin Liners available

Eco bins are washable & durable and
MADE FROM CORRUGATED PLASTIC
All prices exclude GST.
Call us on 1300 669 441 or visit our website.
desk products household products
Deskside
A4 Paper Bin
12 Litre Capacity
$10.95
Desktop A4
Paper Re-use
7 Litre Capacity
$7.95
Ask about our NEW
Home Recycling Bins & Poster
desk
p
Deskside
$10
Based on a system of colour coded waste bins, the Eco Bin system helps you easily sort
your waste and in doing so, minimise the contamination of recyclable materials.
Sustainability Benefits:
- flexibility of cardboard (60 Litre flat
packed ecobins) with the durability of
plastic means they will last for years
- recyclable lightweight materials
- colour coded to reduce contamination
- low embodied energy
(90% less
energy to produce than most other plastic)

- huge diversion from landfill
(goal over 90%)
Desktop mini landfill bin
10cm x 10cm x 10cm - $3.95
for all things that can’t be recycled
Educational Posters
made in australia
Optimising the IT environment
OFFICE EQUIPMENT
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While a single computer uses little energy, scale that up to corporate
level and there are some significant savings in optimising IT.
22
WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

EXTEND THE LIFESPAN OF YOUR ELECTRONICS
Computers are rolled over every three years on
average, so pushing that out is the single most effective
way to reduce both the cost and the footprint of your
company’s IT. According to estimates, extending the
lifespan to four years saves $325 for every $1,000 in
original cost. And it only gets better from there: at four-
and-a-half years the savings reach $500, and at five
years they are $650.
BUY ENERGY STAR RATED COMPUTERS
Though the efficiency of computers has increased

over the past few years, so has the power-hunger of
programs and online usage. To qualify for Energy Stars
from the US Government program, equipment must
use 30-60% less energy than standard models and
meet energy use guidelines in three operating modes −
standby, sleep and while in use.
ENERGY STAR SERVERS
Energy Star also qualifies enterprise servers, which
are said to be 30% more energy efficient than standard
servers. They are required to limit energy loss from
conversion, produce less heat and feature real-time
readings on processor utilisation, power use and air
temperature.
LAPTOP COMPUTERS
Laptops typically use about half the energy of a
desktop, so consider whether laptops might meet your
needs.
WAKE ON LAN
For networked computers, ensure they are ‘Wake
on LAN’ capable, a technology that allows a computer
to wake from sleep mode only when needed. It means,
for example, that computers don’t have to be left on
overnight to perform scheduled maintenance tasks or
be remotely accessed. To use Wake on LAN you need
a Wake on LAN network adapter, Wake on LAN enabled
motherboard and remote management software.
SMART POWER BOARDS
Consider using smart power boards to stop the
power consumed by computer accessories when they
are not actually in use, by turning them off at the wall.

Options include timer-equipped boards and ultra-smart
ones that sense when power is no longer needed and
shut off automatically.
A SMALLER MONITOR
This will save energy, so don’t oversize it. And pick
Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) flat screen monitors as they
use three times less than increasingly outdated Cathode
Ray Tube (CRT) monitors.
POWER MANAGE YOUR MONITORS
Monitors should have power management features;
note that a screensaver is not sleep mode. Screensavers
became popular in the 1990s to avoid ‘phosphor burn-in’
but do not perform any function in a modern LCD screen.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates some
screensavers can draw 40−100 watts to keep running,
and they prevent your monitor going into hibernate or
sleep mode. So consider placing a mandatory sleep
setting on all monitors after a period of inactivity.
1
2
3
6
7
8
4
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WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
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power ManageMent

Almost all computers have energy saving settings,
but typically they do not come pre-configured from
the manufacturer and the US EPA estimates as few
as 10% of computers in the US have the function
enabled.
Power management, as prosaic as it sounds, is
one of the core focuses of the Climate Savers
Computing Initiative, which estimates up to 60% of
US employees do not turn their PC off at night.
Is it a problem? Just 35% of the energy used by a
computer goes to operating it, with the remainder
consumed when it isn’t even in use. Energy Star
estimates by activating standby and hibernate
settings, the IT department could save $75 a year per
unit – and another $5−10 on reduced cooling loads.
Harvard University, for example, saved US$15,000
in one year just by having users enable the sleep
feature on their computers. The US Government in
2007 ordered all federal agencies to activate sleep
features.
Make it a requirement in the request for tender that
everything should be able to go into hibernation when
not in use − to use 10 watts or less in sleep mode
and recover from sleep mode in about 10 seconds
– and ensure the power management modes are
enabled.
deMystifying servers
1. Virtualisation
If your server has a dedicated room and
sits in multiple racks, chances are you are

not taking advantage of virtualisation. The
capacity of traditional servers is often under-
utilised – perhaps as little as 5% – because
you need a different one for each application
being run. It’s wasteful and all have to be
maintained, housed, cooled and upgraded.
Virtualisation – where
multiple applications
and operating systems
run from a single blade
server – offers lower costs
for business and greater
flexibility for employees,
while maintaining control.
As demand for more and
more data has arisen,
virtualisation has become
popular as organisations
don’t need to invest
more resources in ever-larger servers and
ever-more cooling – thereby considerably
lowering operating expenses.
2. The cloud
In times of old – well, 2010 anyway – you
purchased a computer, loaded the software
and away you’d go. The computer’s memory
and power would limit how much you could
load and if you needed more power or
memory, often a new computer or server had
to be purchased.

Cloud computing renders the hardware-based
model redundant. Data and applications are
stored remotely on the ‘cloud’ – anywhere
on the internet – and can be accessed
from a range of devices including desktop
computers, laptops, tablets and even mobile
phones.
It has given rise to thin computing, which
replaces a fully-loaded PC with a Thin or Zero
Client – a unit with little or no pre-installed
operating system.
As Object Consulting puts it,
“it is a pay-per-use model for
enabling available, convenient,
on-demand network access to
a shared pool of configurable
computing resources… that
can be rapidly provisioned
and released with minimal
management effort or service
provider interaction”.
Companies such as Wyse
(www.wyse.com.au) and Ncomputing (www.
ncomputing.com) provide these virtual
desktop services.
So before sallying forth to buy a fleet of
new servers, consider the cloud. A study by
Microsoft, Accenture and WSP Environment
& Energy found cloud computing – with
highly optimised, multi-tenancy, large scale

datacentres – can cut energy consumption
and carbon emissions by 30% compared to
an organisation that runs the same software
on its own infrastructure.
power usage effectiveness
PUE is the official measure used to determine how
efficiently a datacentre uses its power. Ideally, all data
centres should have a PUE of one, meaning the power
running the IT should be equal to the power running the
entire facility. However, in practice this is impossible
and the industry average is 2.6.
resources and reading
n
Climate Savers Computing Initiative − Started by
Google and Intel in 2007, it now has over 40 members
working on reducing energy use in computing, end-to-end
(www.climatesaverscomputing.org).
n
Energy Star – A joint program of the US EPA and the
Department of Energy designed to help develop and
support energy efficient products and practices (www.
energystar.gov).
n
Foundation for IT Sustainability – A Sydney-based
non-profit whose mission is to engage and educate on
the environmental footprint of technology (www.ffits.org).
n
The Electronics TakeBack Coalition – Promotes
green design and responsible recycling (www.
electronicstakeback.com).

n
Explaining Computers – A simple video on the key
issues (www.youtube.com/watch?v=350Rb2sOc3U).
DESKTOPS
Product Rating Optional points Energy Star
Lenovo ThinkCentre M90/M91 Gold 21 (of 27) 5
Lenovo ThinkCentre M70e/M75e/M80/M81 Gold 20 5
Lenovo ThinkCentre M58 Gold 19 5
HP Compaq dx2810 Special Edition PC Gold 19 5
HP Compaq 8000f Elite Ultra Slim Desktop Business PC Gold 19 5
DISPLAYS
Product Rating Optional points Energy Star
Lenovo ThinkVision L2440/ L2251/L2321 Gold 21 5
Lenovo ThinkVision L174/L197/L2440p/L1940/ Gold 20 5
L1700p/L1900p /L1900/L1940p
HP L1506x 15-inch LED Display Gold 20 5
INTEGRATED DESKTOP COMPUTERS
Product Rating Optional points Energy Star
Lenovo ThinkCentre M90z Gold 22 5
Lenovo ThinkCentre M70z Gold 22 5
HP Compaq 6000 Pro All-in-One PC Gold 21 5
HP Touchsmart 9300 Elite Business PC Gold 21 5
NOTEBOOKS
Product Rating Optional points Energy Star
HP ProBook 4410/4415/4515/4411/4416 Gold 22 5
Compaq 510/ 511/ 516 Gold 22 5
HP EliteBook 2560p Notebook Gold 22 5
Toshiba Portege R830 Gold 22 5
Toshiba NB500/NB550/NB520 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Satellite L730/Satellite Pro L730 Gold 22 5

Toshiba Satellite L750 series Gold 22 5
Toshiba Qosmio X770/F60 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Libretto W100 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Portege M780 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Portege R600/R605/ R700 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Satellite C660/Satellite Pro C660 series Gold 22 5
Toshiba Satellite Pro L630 series Gold 22 5
Toshiba Satellite L670/Satellite Pro L670 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Satellite Pro S500 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Tecra A11/M11 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Satellite E300/ A660/ L640 Gold 22 5
Toshiba Tecra R850, 840 Gold 22 5
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WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011

E
PEAT is a US-based eco-labeling system that
helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select IT
equipment based on their environmental attributes.
The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment
Tool (EPEAT), which covers desktop and laptop
computers, thin clients, workstations and computer
monitors, has been embraced by the Australian
Government as the foundation for its ‘ICT Sustainability

Plan 2010- 2015’.
Product manufacturers self-assess and declare the
conformance of their products against EPEAT criteria
grouped under eight categories: reduction/elimination of
environmentally sensitive materials; materials selection;
design for end-of-life; product longevity or life cycle
extension; energy conservation and renewable energies;
packaging; end of life management, including product
take-back; and corporate performance.
There are three levels – gold, silver and bronze –
depending on the number of optional criteria a product
meets, in addition to the mandatory criteria.
EPEAT has also developed an excel-based Electronics
Environmental Benefits Calculator to help institutional
purchasers estimate the environmental and economic
benefits of purchasing registered products, in
addition to improvements in operation and end-of-life
management. It quantifies savings across the entire
life cycle, from virgin material use to energy use, virgin
material use to hazardous and other waste.
Just seven brands have products registered in
Australia – Acer, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, Phillips, NEC,
Sun Ray (Oracle) and Toshiba. Below are the top rated
products in four key categories.
More detail at www.epeat.net
Inside the best
of IT equipment
Precautionary Principle
(and support for revision of RoHS Directive)
Chemicals Management

Timeline for PVC & BFR phaseout
Timeline for additional substances phaseout
PVC-free and/or BFR-free models
(companies score double on this criterion)
Individual producer responsibility
Voluntary take-back
Information to individual customers
Amounts recycled
Use of recycled plastic content
Global GHG emissions reduction support
Carbon Footprint disclosure
Own GHG emissions reduction commitment
Amounts of renewable energy used
Energy efficiency of new models
(companies score double on this criterion)
Precautionary Principle
(and support for revision of RoHS Directive)
Chemicals Management
Timeline for PVC & BFR phaseout
Timeline for additional substances phaseout
PVC-free and/or BFR-free models
(companies score double on this criterion)
Individual producer responsibility
Voluntary take-back
Information to individual customers
Amounts recycled
Use of recycled plastic content
Global GHG emissions reduction support
Carbon Footprint disclosure
Own GHG emissions reduction commitment

Amounts of renewable energy used
Energy efficiency of new models
(companies score double on this criterion)
HEWLETT PACKARD (5.5/10)
HP rates 4th as a result of its progress
in bringing products that are free from
PVC vinyl plastic and brominated flame
retardants (BFRs) onto the market and a
new commitment to phase out beryllium
and compounds by July 2011.
It now has many PVC- and BFR-free
products, including a desktop PC with
PVC-free power supply, several series of
notebooks, another desktop and two LCD
monitors. It has also recently launched the
first PVC free printer.
It is weakest on e-waste issues. Its
voluntary take-back program, although
improving, continues to be weak and is
still mainly oriented towards business
rather than individual customers. The
company reports a reuse and recycling rate
in 2009 of 16%.
On energy efficiency, HP reports over
90% of notebook PC platforms and 41%
of desktop platforms meet Energy Star 5
standards.
SAMSUNG (5.3/10)
Samsung gains points on the chemicals
criteria from the last study, mostly for

releasing products free from PVC and
BFRs. The housings of some TVs and all
notebooks and monitors are BFR-free,
while since November 2007 all new
models of LCD panels are PVC-free.
It provides PVC and BFRs phase out
timelines for some product groups – from
new models of notebooks from January
2012 – but no longer plans to fully phase
out these substances in TVs and other
appliances.
Samsung scores well on e-waste; it reports
recycling rates of 12% for PCs (based on
a 7-year lifespan) but loses a point on its
use of recycled plastic, which dropped
from 16.1% in 2008 to 8.5% in 2009. It
aims to increase to 25% by 2025, most of
it post-consumer plastic.
Bad Partially Partially Good (3+)
Bad (1+) Good (2+)
Ranking the product providers

WME ESSENTIALS GUIDE: OFFICE EQUIPMENT + IT • JULY 2011
25
W
here EPEAT drills down to rate individual
products, Greenpeace has since 2006 looked at
corporate policies and performance to rate 18
manufacturers of products ranging from computer games
and mobile phones to enterprise ICT equipment.

Phone makers Nokia and Sony Ericsson lead the
list; Hewlett-Packard is the top ranked maker of IT
equipment.
In line with the Greenpeace slant towards toxic
materials, the big focus of its annual Guide to Greener
Electronics is on chemicals and e-waste.
Given estimates that as much as 80% of electronic
waste is processed in developing countries, the NGO is
concerned about processes such as the open burning
of waste and release dioxins and furans into the
atmosphere.
In particular, it is worried about chlorinated substances
such as PVC plastic and brominated substances,
primarily brominated flame retardants (BFR). Companies
typically score highly if they have phased out these
materials and are lobbying policy makers to that effect.
For similar reasons it delves into the recycling
performance of companies, as this influences the
e-waste flows to offshore processing.
The third tier of its assessment looks at energy, from
the company’s carbon footprint to the energy efficiency
of new product models.
For the full guide, visit />