The council is re-locating to Staffordshire Place from 17 previously used inefficient buildings across Stafford. The council will centralise its print operations with Ricoh to make savings.

The savings will be made as a result of fewer but more modern Ricoh printers which are managed by personal accounts. They use less ink and are programmed to print in black and white and on two sides, saving on paper costs.

Staff need to swipe their personal card at the machine before their printing activates. The printers are also more energy efficient which adds to the cost savings.

"By moving our employees into two modern and efficient buildings from 17 sites scattered across Stafford, we have been able to drive down print cost and demonstrate a real saving," said Ian Parry, cabinet member for finance and transformation at Staffordshire County Council.

"There are far less printers which are more easily managed and maintained. We are instilling a culture where excessive or needless printing is frowned upon and managers can monitor printing within their team."