The Central West Regional Organisation of Councils (CENTROC) program, aptly titled ‘That’s a Good Idea’, requires member councils, including Orange and Cabonne, to change printer settings to automatically print double sided.

The program will drastically reduce Orange City Council’s annual paper consumption alone by over three tonnes, or 650,000 sheets of A4 paper.

The savings will not just stop at Orange and Cabonne councils, with 12 others throughout the area following suit.

It’s a simple concept and according to Mayor John Davis, one likely to encourage other businesses throughout the city to act accordingly.

“Cutting usage by those kind of volumes is a great result for the environment and is reflective of the commitment of staff right across council to help us become more environmentally friendly,” he said.

Council IT employees have spent the last few days reconfiguring all printers across council’s networks and, according to council spokesperson Nick Redmond, ratepayers will also benefit from the scheme.

“Obviously cutting the number of reams of paper we order means savings for ratepayers because our paper bill will be also be reduced by a third, so it’s a win-win situation,” he said.

CENTROC will now focus on introducing recycled paper into all member councils in the coming months.