Earth Day tips: 7 ways to greener printing

1. Print on both sides of the page. Some new printers offer automatic two-sided printing (many manufacturers call this feature "automatic duplexing"), but if your printer doesn't, print the odd pages in your document first, then turn the paper over and print the even ones.

2. Instead of printing out e-mails, Web pages, and other documents, read them on your computer screen. A free application called CutePDF makes that simpler by turning such items into easy-to-read PDFs. 

3. Download the free application GreenPrint, which analyzes what you're printing and skips pages with little or no content.

4. If you've got an inkjet and you're printing text-only or Web pages that you don't need in color, set your printer to use only black ink. If you're printing pages that don't need to be highest quality, choose draft mode or a similar setting that uses less ink.

5. Ink monitors can be inaccurate. Don't change your ink cartridge as soon as the monitor says you're running low. Wait until you actually see a decrease in the quality of your prints.

6. Recycle used ink cartridges and old printers. Policies vary among manufacturers. For example, some companies recycle their own brand of ink cartridges for free but charge a small fee for other brands.

7. Check our printer Ratings (available to subscribers), which include an evaluation of how effectively a model conserves power when it's inactive. —Donna Tapellini