UCD adopts green print policy with Ricoh


29 Apr 2009

Following a contract with digital office equipment provider Ricoh, University College Dublin (UCD) has become the first Irish university to adopt a green printing policy.

The new deal between Ricoh and UCD will see UCD adopting ‘duplex printing’ as standard, automatically using both sides of the page for printing purposes.

While this is a straightforward and simple adoption, it is expected to reduce UCD’s carbon footprint by several million pages per year.

Ricoh will supply UCD with 60 printers across campus for the 18,000-strong student population, and will also provide two full-time onsite technicians to vet printer-related queries.

This move aims to free up the university’s IT support desk by reducing printer support calls by 4,500 on the previous year.

A new smart card system for students will combine a ‘follow-you’ printing feature that allows students to print documents from any Ricoh printer on the campus network, using their student cards.

“UCD’s student printing service has always had an enormous impact on human and financial resources,” said Ciara Acton, head of IT customer services for University College Dublin.

“This solution achieves the dual purpose of greener printing and cost savings for our students.

“Many of our students have already expressed increased satisfaction with Ricoh’s flexible and lower cost service.”

By Marie Boran

Pictured: Áine O’Shea, managed services print manager, Ricoh Ireland, and Ciara Acton, head of IT customer services, UCD