Sustainable Print Solutions
Office Odyssey works with manufacturers and solution design partners who lead their respective fields in both innovation and sustainability.
Our goal is to help clients minimising the environmental impact of their print operations. To achieve this we have partnered with two established and reputable print manufacturers with many decades of innovation and expertise, Epson and Ricoh, who have both been award Platinum EcoVadis awards for sustainability, and these partnerships help us deliver the right solution for every client’s individual applications, be they small office or a large scale professional mailroom.
One small change can have a positive impact on our journey to Net Zero
Every day the media bring us more evidence of the environmental challenges our planet is facing. The answer to these challenges lies in every person and every company thinking about changing behaviour… And we can all play our part.
Epson focuses on changing the way we consume electricity by providing a far more sustainable Heat-Free print technology, which uses no heat in the ink ejection process and delivers up to 83% lower power consumption. Starting one page at a time, every time we all print, we can change the story together.
Research by experts at the University of Cambridge identified that to keep the world on track to achieve a Net Zero carbon future, the energy consumed globally by all appliances must fall on average by approximately 25% from 2020 levels by 2030, and 40% by 2050.
It also revealed that a worldwide switch across all laser and inkjet models to Heat-Free print technology would cut energy emissions by 52.6% and that inkjet technology can be up to 90% more energy efficient than laser technology depending on the type of printer.
Lower Power Consumption
Unlike laser printers which need to heat up to around 200℃ for the fuser to enable printing, Epson’s business inkjets require no heat in the printing process which results in significantly lower print related energy consumption and utility bills.
More Reliable
Heat-Free print technology requires fewer replacement parts, reducing waste and downtime, with significantly more reliable printers requiring less user intervention or servicing.
Printing Process Comparison
Laser and inkjet printers may look the same on the outside, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts.
Laser printers must heat up to 200℃ every time you hit print. This means that they use a lot of power very quickly in order to print your document. Typical copiers will draw up 700-1800 watts when warming up.
Epson’s heat-free technology requires just 20-115 watts to produce the same document, and no warm-up time, typically 20 to 30 seconds for many laser devices, means less time waiting for print jobs to complete, boosting productivity and reducing electricity costs and the associated CO2 emissions, as well as bringing Ozone emissions down to virtually zero.*
*ISO Cleanroom Level 5 certified for zero ozone & particulates
Faster
With no waiting for the fuser to heat up, which typically takes a laser device 20 to 30 seconds, Epson’s printers have finished a typical print job before the laser has even started printing page one.
Less Waste
Epson Replacement Ink Packs last up to nine times longer than a toner cartridge. This reduces the number of changes, the number of deliveries, packaging and even diesel miles by delivery vans.
EcoVadis Platinum Award
EcoVadis awarded Epson their 4th Platinum Sustainability Award in 2025. The platinum rating was awarded in recognition of Epson’s global sustainability initiatives. In the four themes assessed by EcoVadis, Epson received high scores for the environment, sustainable procurement, labour and human rights, and ethics, positioning it in the top 1% of companies in the industry
A New Generation
However, in the event that a client or their application requires something different, Office Odyssey have also partnered with Platinum EcoVadis award winning laser manufacturer, Ricoh. Ricoh achieved their first Platinum rating in March 2025, after 10 years of Gold ratings, now placing them in the top 1% of globally assessed companies. This achievement reflects Ricoh’s major advances in reducing the environmental impact of both manufacturing and operating the latest generation of devices.
New A3 multifunction printers made from 50% post-consumer recycled materials
Ricoh is helping customers achieve their sustainability goals with the introduction of the new IM C range of A3 colour multifunction printers (MFP). Made from at least 50% post-consumer recycled materials – ten times better than the previous model – this new range of all-in-one office devices is Ricoh’s most sustainable to date.
The upgrades also include a 45% reduction in panel power usage, enhanced image quality, an updated processor which doubles the speed of production and a 50% reduction in plastic packaging, resulting in a 20% reduction in carbon footprint across the lifetime of the machine.
The new upgrades bring a host of additional benefits to users, including increased performance and security along with a reduction in energy usage, making them more cost-effective as well as more sustainable to operate. All upgrades ensure the new MFPs can facilitate workflow automation and document management integration, helping Ricoh customers on their journey to digital workspace transformation.
Resource Conservation
Ricoh’s sustainability offerings feature Reduce, Re-use, Recycle products and services that are a perfect fit with the circular economy requirements.
Circular Economy: Ricoh's commitment to sustainability begins with the design, where engineers focus on creating printers and MFPs that are efficient and easy to disassemble for recycling at the end of their life cycle.
End of life management: The Ricoh Resource Smart Return programme facilitates the easy return of end of life products and used consumables.
Smaller, lighter parts: Many of Ricoh’s latest MFPs are over 65% lighter and smaller than previous models in their class. Ricoh’s ethos is to use less resources to develop robust devices.
Recycled materials & materials from alternative sources: Biologically reproducible biomass resources like bio-based plastics and biomass toner form an integral part of Ricoh’s manufacturing process. Their devices are partly made of bio-based plastics and electric furnace steel.
Resource efficiency built into Ricoh products:
High speed duplex – To help save paper, all Ricoh MFPs come with duplex functionality as standard for easy double-sided printing
Staple-less finisher – A unique Ricoh MFP feature that allows up to five pages to be bound together without the need for a staple
Print & Share Eco print driver: Helps reduce paper usage and waste with a single click by eliminating unwanted prints and merging white space to print multiple pages on one sheet.
Recycled and sustainably sourced paper: Ricoh office products are all designed to work optimally with recycled paper and their own range of paper is sourced from sustainably managed forests.
