Waste management organisation cuts waste with inkjet upgrade

Tom White is a Coventry-based, business providing waste and skip hire management for over 40 years.

After being acquired by Coventry City Council in 2020, Tom White saw a major re-brand that put People, Planet and Profit for Purpose firmly at the centre of their value proposition, which saw an increased focus in sustainability and shareholder profits invested into the local community.

In early 2022, staff at Tom White started noticing real issues with the quality of prints delivered by its existing fleet of laser printers. The consistent lack of quality led employees to start outsourcing certain print jobs to local print shops.

Jessica Keynes, Head of Storytelling at Tom White commented: “Waste transfer notes and other secure documents need to be printed clearly as they’re integral to our business processes. On occasion the only reliable option for printing customer communications was through an external print shop, costing us time and money.”

Document solutions specialist Midrepro Ltd, also based in Coventry, has been a supplier of Tom White for 14 years and is also a proud supporter of giving back to the local community, sponsoring local sports teams and fundraising for local charities. After print quality issues were escalated by Tom White’s customer service manager, Midrepro were asked for recommendations on what could deliver a more consistent printing result, while aligning with the business’s core values. It was at this point that Midrepro introduced them to Epson’s Heat-Free inkjet proposition.

Thanks to Epson’s proprietary Micro Piezo Heat-Free inkjet printing technology, there is no warm-up process before printing can begin, less energy used in the printing, and there are fewer replacement parts in the device, reducing the amount of intervention required. It also uses ultra-high-yield ink consumables compared with laser equivalents, which offers a significant reduction in printer downtime changing the ink, and subsequently less waste. 

After a few discussions, a product demonstration and approval from Tom White’s Finance and Managing Director, two Epson floor standing WorkForce WF-C879R MFPs and one WF-C579R desktop MFP were installed on a new managed print service across two of their sites, in replacement to laser printer equivalents.

“The switch we made to the new inkjet devices was really quick”, added Jessica. “The savings in energy and waste were an obvious alignment to our core values, particularly as a waste management organisation, and we were happy that the quality represented a significant improvement to what we were dealing with previously.”

Sometime after the installation, Midrepro shared with Tom White an Optimisation Report, which illustrates the calculated savings in energy, CO2 emissions, time, and cost after switching from laser to Epson’s Heat-Free inkjet devices. The report is based on calculations using manufacturer’s data and is verified by independent consultancy DataMaster Lab. The Optimisation Report showed calculated savings of 470kg in CO2 emissions, 83 ink consumables, 1,607 hours in print waiting/service time, and £741 in energy costs over a 60-month contract.

Jessica adds: “Although we hadn’t used the Optimisation Report to help secure the switch to Epson, we’ll certainly use it internally to support our decarbonisation strategy and to show the economic and environmental benefits we’re now achieving as a result.

“It’s been 7 months since we had the Epson devices installed, and the change in experience has been significant. There’s a much greater confidence from colleagues in day-to-day printing requirements, with many using different media types to suit different needs, and we’ve not had to outsource any printing since.”

Hayley Garner, Account Manager at Midrepro, commented: “It’s really rewarding to deliver such an improvement to a business through what might seem like a small and simple change. Tom White is one of many organisations that is using bespoke printing upgrades to create tangible improvements to their business, and it’s a privilege to be playing a role in this.”