Print management vendor Doxense has released a white paper that adds up the costs of printing and looks at how businesses might improve.

Aimed at IT managers, The True Cost of Printing notes that 20 per cent of printed pages are thrown away without ever being used and claims inefficient practices are “rife” in the UK.

Doxense believes that granular policies are required to optimise the printer estate, identify and reduce waste while raising awareness of print issues, create a cultural shift towards more responsible printing and reduce overall printing costs.

Lee Schofield, UK country manager at Doxense, said: “Astonishingly, the printing budget represents between three and five per cent of annual sales. The average UK customer with 1,000 users will print 7.8 million pages in a year.”