Last week Toshiba America Business Solutions declared 23 October 2012 "National No Print Day" and encouraged companies and individuals not to print or photocopy any documents for 24 hours. The firm said the initiative aims to raise awareness of the impact printing has on the planet.

But Two Sides, the campaign group that promotes print as a sustainable and versatile medium of communication, has branded the idea as one of "the most blatant examples of greenwashing".

Two Sides said it openly challenged Toshiba’s claims linking print to deforestation and asked it to consider "verifiable and accurate environmental facts" before withdrawing "this flawed campaign".

The organisation says Toshiba has ignored the environmental impact of electronic communications. It has suggested the US giant does not itself recycle its products effectively and accused the firm of not taking into account accurate and documented environmental facts regarding the use of paper and print for media, before launching the campaign.

Toshiba has not offered a response.