He noticed that a lot of waste happens while we print our digital information on hard paper copies.
After analyzing this waste in more detail Suvir concluded that “Ink is two times more expensive than French perfume by volume,” He then focused on reducing the ink usage.
For his study Suvir Mirchandan analysed texts from random teachers’ handouts. The result of his analysis showed that the most commonly used 5 characters are e, t, a, o and r. After measuring how much ink was used to print out these characters with common fonts he found out that by using a replacement typeface Garamond. Using Garamond instead of Times New Roman, Comic Sans or Century Gothic won’t result in such a notable visual difference but according to Suvir’ study it would result in 30% less ink being used.
If this idea is considered by our government then imagine how much money could be saved after printing millions of documents and forms. Suvir Mirchandan says he did the math and the government can save close to $234 million. He didn’t receive a sign that the government might be considering his idea. Suvir Mirchandan cared to remind everybody that he did the study and thought everything up primarily for his Pittsburgh-area middle school as he wanted to cut waste.
