European businesses are wasting tens of thousands of euros annually because of wasted printing, according to research announced Tuesday by Lexmark, the international printer manufacturer.

The research reveals that, on average, 14 percent of pages printed in the workplace are never used, either remaining on the printer or photocopier or heading straight for the bin.

This represents a combined cost to European businesses of at least ?1.3 billion (US$1.5 billion) or in environmental terms, the equivalent of approximately 4 million average sized trees.

France has one of the highest levels of print wastage in Europe. German businesses are the most waste-conscious, claiming only 6 percent of the paper they print remains unused, compared to 12 percent in Spain.

Yet despite the 6 percent of European office workers printing up to 50 pages a day, and more than 600 billion copies being printed annually, few businesses, let alone employees, are aware of the economic and environmental cost of print wastage.

A tenth (13 percent) of European office workers say they print everything they are sent, whilst an average of a third (32 percent) say they print out their e-mails simply in order to read them.

?With document production costing between 1 percent and 3 percent of a company?s revenue, this is a significant expense for most businesses,? says Hans Horn, MD, Lexmark International SA. ?The fact that so much of what is printed is never even used should be ringing alarm bells in finance departments across the country. Yet incredibly, few businesses are fully aware of what their organization spends on documents, let alone what is wasted.?