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Higher education|

Saving paper during a Semester at Sea

Teenagers on a deck of a boat

Cutting to the chase

Problem

Find a way to keep paper usage and printing-related cargo as low as possible

Solution

Use PaperCut quotas to manage who prints what, and drive mindful printing

Outcome

Significantly reduce wasteful and thoughtless printing

Right now, there’s a ship sailing on an ocean somewhere, filled with enthusiastic school students. That’s the extraordinary reality created by Semester at Sea (SaS), a not-for-profit collaboration between the Institute for Shipboard Education and Colorado State University.

With students spending 100+ days at sea visiting 10-12 countries, the SaS team needs to be on top of the supplies brought on board. More weight means more fuel, so they aim to be as efficient and sustainable as possible – even down to the amount of printing paper they carry.

Ships can carry more than cargo; they can carry ideas"

- C.Y. Tung,

Co-founder of the Institute for Shipboard Education

Problem

Find a way to keep paper usage and printing-related cargo as low as possible

Among the numerous unique challenges facing the IT team of a floating campus is the need to travel lightly: “Every pound we carry equates to additional fuel cost,” says Layne Hanson, SaS’ vice president for public affairs. “We try to be as efficient and sustainable as possible”.

An area that needed to be brought under control was the amount of paper taken on board for printing. And with new students each semester, it was critical that the print management solution was quick to understand and easy to use.

“We teach students about ocean awareness and sustainable practices,” Layne continues. “Part of that is making them aware of paper waste. Wherever possible – exams and essays, for example – we try to use digital sources. But we still see a lot of paper waste.”

Solution

Use PaperCut quotas to manage who prints what, and drive mindful printing

“We were looking for a solution that was very user-friendly,” Layne says. “Our population changes with each voyage, both students and staff, so we needed a solution that could be picked up easily.”

As a result, Layne and the team selected PaperCut for their needs.

“The main selling point for us was the ease of use. We set up students and staff with different printing permissions and quotas. Once they burn through their allowance, students need to pay a small amount to print, and staff have to get permission to extend their allowance.”

Outcome

Significantly reduce wasteful and thoughtless printing

“I really don’t know how else we would have reduced the amount of wasteful printing without PaperCut,” Layne says. “Being able to pre-allocate the amount of printing really helps us manage paper and other supplies.”

PaperCut has also helped reinforce the scarcity of paper and the importance of thoughtful printing: “By implementing PaperCut, we‘ve been able to reinforce that paper and printing is a valuable resource on the ship.”

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