For companies looking for a way to offset their high paper consumption, the company PrintReleaf has a solution. PrintReleaf works with a company’s existing print management software to measure its paper consumption per device in real time. The PrintReleaf Exchange (PRX) software then determines the number of trees that were sacrificed for that paper volume and then sends that information to various reforestation projects around the globe so that the number can be offset with new tree growth.
PrintReleaf says its software is designed to integrate with leading print management platforms and MPS tools to track and report usage. According to the company website, it is currently seeking integration and channel partners to help promote its solution. PrintReleaf currently has over 30 channel partners and integrates with some key MPS solutions such as PrintFleet. Most recently, the company partnered with West Point Products, a provider of replacement imaging supplies, managed print services and recycling services. The partnership lets West Point Products’ dealers and end users utilizing Axess Managed Print Services to access PRX and be a part of the reforestation program. As an added bonus, PRX users can send their reforestation statistics to their social media accounts to promote their reforestation efforts.
Companies can peruse PrintReleaf’s network of reforestation projects and choose locations to reforest. Reforestation projects can be found in Brazil, Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Mexico. PrintReleaf hopes to expand operations into areas such as Canada, China, Indonesia and the United States. According to the company, PrintReleaf integrates with Global Forest Watch (GFW), an open source platform launched by the World Resources Institute that collects data on real-time forest loss and gain around the world and then streams it through their platform to make the information available to apps like PrintReleaf.
Companies can track the progress of new tree growth to verify survival over an eight-year period. They then receive a certificate of authentication that gets periodically updated when trees are planted and verified over that eight-year time period. “We guarantee 100% net survival of the trees tied to an eight-year audit cycle since, at that point, the tree is considered a success [and] on the path toward full maturity,” said Jordan Darragh, PrintReleaf’s founder and CEO. “Therefore, if a species’ survival rate is 80%, we will ‘over plant’ the required volume of trees on the front end such that during and through the entire eight-year audit cycle, we land at or above 100% net survival. Worst case, if the forest fell below 100% net survival, then the reforestation project carries liability to ‘true up’ the difference as part of their next planting cycle.”
PrintReleaf uses the same calculation as BLI’s Energy Calculator to determine the number of sheets per tree (8,333 sheets of virgin paper equals one tree). However, the actual trees planted vary by region; Darragh says they only plant native or indigenous trees as part of the reforestation projects. For more information, visit PrintReleaf’s website: https://printreleaf.com.
