Aramark, a national food and corporate services company, recently received top honors in Infoworld’s 2009 Green IT awards.

How’d it get the nod? By cutting down on printing-related resources and electricity.

The company decided to rethink its printing strategy at its four main offices, which house a total of 2,000 employees. To achieve its goals, Aramark installed new machines that were far more energy efficient than their predecessors. Also, these printers can all be powered down remotely so the company knows no energy is being wasted during non-work hours.

Also:

• The company reduced personal printers, replacing them with workgroup machines (by far the deed that brought the most employee resistance)
• The machines offer dual-sided printing, a major savings on paper
• IT admins can remotely control default print quality, so less toner is used in printing routine documents or drafts
• New software requires users to enter a PIN before receiving a printout (Secure print), which enhances security and helps IT find out who’s printing the most.
• The overall number of printers and copiers was reduced, and the new machines had higher duty cycles and lower costs per page.

It all took a serious education effort, training users to use double-sided printing, scan-to-email, and secure printing.  They also took pains to explain the business and environmental case for the change.

Has it paid off? Aramark estimates the new strategy is saving $35,000 in printing costs annually. Paper use has been cut by about 200,000 sheets a year, and the company is buying 20% less toner.