SAN DIEGO, CA—Toshiba America Business Solutions (TABS), in the business of selling copiers and printers, recently declared Oct. 23 as national no-print day (NNPD) which has garnered a fierce backlash from printing associations.

NNPD is set to take place in the U.S. on Oct. 23. Toshiba claims 336,000,000 sheets of paper are wasted daily with more than 40,000 trees discarded every day in America.

"We as individuals and companies are failing to make the link between printing waste and its negative impacts on our landfills, natural resources and the environment," said Bill Melo, vice president of marketing, services and solutions, Toshiba America Business Solutions.

TABS has not yet responded to a request for an interview from PrintCAN.

Meanwhile, Michael Makin, president of Printing Industries of America (PIA), noted about the campaign, “Needless to say, we find such a proposal ridiculous and an insult to the more than 800,000 Americans who owe their direct livelihood to our industry."

He added, "The primary raw material for printing is paper, which comes from trees, which are a renewable resource—so renewable that today, our country has 20 percent more trees than it did on the first Earth Day which was held more than 40 years ago,” added Makin.

He rejects the Oct. 23 no-print day, and reiterated that "print will very much be alive on October 23" and asked the company how it would feel if that day became "National No-Toshiba Day?”

The Printing Industries Association of Southern California (PIASC) issued its own response, stating, "Toshiba America Business Solutions' proposed No-Print Day smacks of greenwashing. Let's hope it's unintentional. The truth is print on paper isn't depleting our forests, overwhelming our landfills, or causing global warming – and Toshiba should have known the facts before launching this self-serving program."

PIASC backed up its words by citing several statistics, noting only 11% of the world's forests are used for paper.

There's also been a steady stream of comments about no-print day on Twitter, which can be viewed here.

NNPD is part of a larger commitment by Toshiba to plant 1.5 million trees by 2025 in celebration of its 150th anniversary.