Double-sided documents, using recycled paper – both are great ways to make printing more eco-friendly, but neither is a solution to the millions of leaky ink cartridges piling up in landfills each year.
Using Swiss cheese as its inspiration, a Dutch communications agency has invented a font designed to cut down substantially on ink consumption.
The new Ecofont, downloadable for free at the company’s website, appears at small sizes like any other type, but each letter is actually filled with tiny, inkless circles:
The design minimizes ink usage by up to 20 percent, the company claims. But even with a more ink-efficient font, the cartridge will eventually run out. When it does, websites like www.freerecycling.com make it easy – and economical – to keep your used plastic out of the dump.
