Education institutions face a difficult balancing act. They must provide students and staff with accessible print and document resources while controlling budgets and reducing environmental impact. With rising energy costs, sustainability targets, and growing print volumes from hybrid learning, schools and universities need smarter ways to manage their print infrastructure.

This article explores how sustainable printing strategies can help the education sector achieve both cost efficiency and measurable environmental progress.

The growing sustainability challenge in education

Across Europe, schools and universities are being asked to do more with less. At the same time, printing remains essential for teaching, administration, and examinations. For universities with tens of thousands of students, print consumption can reach millions of pages per year, driving up both cost and carbon output.

Beyond the financial and environmental implications, education leaders must also balance accessibility, equity, and operational efficiency. Students and staff expect reliable printing for coursework, research, and official documentation, yet many institutions operate with ageing device fleets and fragmented management systems.

Budget constraints limit the ability to replace inefficient hardware or invest in digital transformation projects, while sustainability commitments require measurable reductions in paper and energy use. As hybrid and remote learning continue to grow, the complexity increases further as print demand becomes more unpredictable, and maintaining control over devices and consumables across multiple sites becomes a logistical challenge.

The challenge is clear: how can educational institutions provide the necessary print access while reducing waste and environmental impact?

Where print waste occurs in education

Common sources of inefficiency in education printing include:

• Unclaimed print jobs: Students and staff often print documents they never collect, wasting paper and toner.

• Inefficient device fleets: Older, energy-intensive printers or poorly placed devices consume more electricity and consumables than necessary.

• Lack of usage control: Without authentication or quotas, print usage can escalate rapidly.

• Limited visibility: Many institutions lack detailed reporting to understand print behaviour and environmental impact.

• Paper-heavy administration: Forms, exams, and communications are still often printed instead of digitised.

These inefficiencies not only waste money but also increase the organisation’s carbon footprint. Multiply that across hundreds of thousands of pages, and the environmental stakes become significant.

Smart strategies for sustainable printing

Educational institutions can take a structured approach to sustainable printing management by focusing on three key areas:

1.   Modernise and optimise your device fleet

Upgrading to energy-efficient multifunction printers (MFPs) can dramatically reduce energy consumption. Kyocera’s ECOSYS technology, for example, uses durable components and low-temperature toner fixing to cut CO₂ emissions and waste.

Fleet optimisation is equally important: replacing multiple small desktop printers with shared, centralised MFPs reduces overall power draw and simplifies consumables management.

2.   Introduce print management and quotas

User authentication and print quotas help limit unnecessary printing. With solutions like Kyocera Cloud Print and Scan, IT administrators can assign print limits, track individual or departmental usage, and apply duplex or mono defaults to save paper.

Students can also release jobs securely from any device on campus, helping prevent abandoned prints. This simple step alone can reduce paper waste significantly.

3.   Digitise document workflows

Reducing printing altogether is often the most sustainable option. Scanning, digital storage and electronic submission of assignments can significantly cut paper use. Kyocera’s document-management solutions allow users to capture, store and retrieve digital documents securely while maintaining compliance with education data policies.

Digital workflows also improve accessibility for remote learners, which has become a permanent feature of post-pandemic education.

Sustainability outcomes and benefits

By combining modern hardware, smart management software, and digitisation, education institutions can achieve measurable results:

• Lower carbon footprint: Reduced energy use and paper consumption directly cut greenhouse gas emissions.

• Cost savings: Centralised print control and device consolidation reduce running costs by more than many institutions initially expect.

• Simplified IT management: Cloud-based print and scan reduces the need for local print servers and maintenance.

• Enhanced data security: Authentication ensures that student records and staff documents are protected.

• Support for ESG reporting: Measurable print data helps institutions report sustainability performance transparently.

Print sustainably for the world around us

Sustainability in education printing is not just about reducing paper use; it is about balancing accessibility, efficiency, and environmental responsibility. By upgrading to energy-efficient devices, enforcing smart print policies, and digitising document workflows, schools and universities can make meaningful progress toward their sustainability goals while lowering operating costs.

Institutions that partner with a technology provider experienced in secure, efficient and sustainable document solutions can turn printing from a budget drain into a sustainability success story. Kyocera’s ECOSYS printers and multifunctional devices, and cloud software provide the tools to get there, helping education leaders create greener campuses, protect data, and spend more on learning, not printing.