101 Things Designers Can Do to Save The Earth

We’ve scheduled a repeat of last year’s successful workshop. Well, repeat isn’t the right word, as we have a new cast of speakers, and we’re adding many more examples of sustainable design in action. More than 200 people came last year for ideas about how to design more responsibly, and an equal number left with exactly that. So sign up online now, mark your calendar for Wednesday, May 28, 2008, and we’ll see you at the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

We’ve seen a spate of new eco-friendly design websites popping up lately, and one we’re especially glad to see is ecolect.org, which brings you news about sustainable materials for use in packaging, displays, exhibitry, architecture, and you name it. The site is a great hype-free way to learn about some of the new things manufacturers are coming up with.  We give this site five biodegradable gold stars.

You know that everyone’s jumped on the green bandwagon with the Envelope Manufacturer’s Association Foundation has devoted a part of their web site to helping you make smart choices about buying envelopes. Check out their site, and then take some comfort knowing that 95% of envelope gums are water-based, solvent-free, and non-hazardous. Since we lick the stuff, should we worry about the other 5%?

If you’re a designer and you’d like a high-level view of what’s new in green printing technology, register to attend Olympus Press’ Print Green Summit on May 7, 2008 at REI’s flagship store in South Lake Union. The focus this year will be on Chain of Custody. While it sounds like a great name for a grunge band, it’s actually about how you — as a paper user — can have some assurance that your stock is coming from trees in sustainably managed forests. Another plus behind this year’s event? Great hors d’ouerves!

Some 81 billion return envelopes are sent through the US mail each year in credit-card statements, utility bills and other direct mailings, at an estimated cost of 1 billion pounds in greenhouse gas emissions and more than 71 trillion BTUs of energy. Eliminate some of those by using reusable envelopes instead, and it could make a big difference for the environment. That’s the thinking behind ecoEnvelopes, a Minnesota-based company that aims to eliminate the use of reply envelopes from corporate America. Its alternative: a line of reusable envelopes that simply zip open, allowing users to insert their response or payment and seal them up again just like a regular envelope.

Seattle-based Sustainable Group markets an impressive line of 100% recyclable binders and folders made with post-consumer recycled product. While the binders themselves are an eloquent statement about conserving precious resources, it gets more interesting. To offset the virgin fibers that go into the products, SG has committed to a re-planting program where trees are planted in Honduras and El Salvador to replenish the fibers used in manufacturing.

If your heart is in the right place, but you don’t know exactly where to track down materials for sustainable packaging, check out Sustainable Is Good, a website and blog that tracks new developments in smart and appropriate packaging. These were the guys who raised the red flag on Dell for shipping out a USB thumb drive in a box big enough for a microwave. A good read if you design packaging of any kind.

And what’s a paper forum? It’s where paper users get in the room with paper suppliers and share ways to use less of the stuff. SVC just participated in one sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center. While you’ve missed that one, feel free to  head for the PPRC’s paper-free web site to get a little idea of what you’ve missed and to remain on the lookout for future forums.

Sounds like a good idea.  It also sounds difficult, eh?  Not really.  There’s a new website, Catalog Choice, that lets you opt out of hundreds of catalog mailing lists with the proverbial click of your mouse. By jumping off the catalog bandwagon, you’ll do your part to spare some of the 8,000,000 tons of trees consumed each year for catalog paper consumption.

By the way, you may be wondering what is tip 102 doing a site called “101 Things?”  Well, we’re going to keep going, sharing good information as we find it.  If we wind up with 201 things, that’s all the better for the earth.

On Wednesday, September 12th SVC welcomed New Leaf Paper’s Deb Bruner to tell us all about Recycled Paper, Soy Ink, and Al Gore. Deb had a number of great resources to share with us, and here (ta da!) they are:

www.conservatree.org
Conservatree has a comprehensive site covering recycled papers, fiber sources, inks, listings of papers, and much, much more. This is a fabulous resource!

www.greenpressinitiative.org
Green Press Initiative is primarily focused on the book publishing sector, but this is a great resource for inquiring minds. Sign up for their seasonally emailed newsletter and peruse their website pages for all sorts of info.

www.marketsinitiative.org
Based in Canada, Markets Initiative has been a powerful NGO that has caused major transformations in purchasing practices in just 6 years. They focus on the book, magazine, and newspaper sectors, but are a terrific resource for anything related to forestry, including FSC news, logging practices, and much more. MI was instrumental in getting the Harry Potter books published on recycled paper!

www.coopamerica.org
This group is focused on consumers and covers a wide range of topics – not just paper. Look to Co-op America for all sorts of eco-related news.

www.edf.org
The Environmental Defense Fund works in a number of areas as you’ll see from their website. They have focused on paper issues in the past with their paper task force.

We almost forgot: You’re a talented graphic designer, copywriter, web developer, strategist or some other sort of marketing communicator. Well, why not put your talents to work on behalf of some organization trying to make the world a better place. There are plenty of them, and not nearly enough of generous, talented people like you.

Designers are already accused of making the type too small to be readable, but go ahead. A smaller font size can allow you to fit more words on a page, which requires fewer pages, which requires fewer trees, which requires fewer environmental crises.

If you find your office mail box stuffed with computer catalogs and who-knows-what-else that goes straight in the recycling bin, nip that paper waste in the bud by getting off the mailing list. It may take some diligence if you work directly with the sender, but there are national opt-out lists run through the Direct Marketing Association that can eliminate a lot of the unwanted mailings.

We bet you’re thinking this is the dumbest idea you’ve seen here yet. But not really. When a job’s complete, clean out the file, refold the thing inside out and you’re ready for a new project. You just cut your file folder expenses in half and saved some poor tree.

There are still a few holdouts who say shooting on film gives a look that digital media can’t duplicate. Undoubtedly so. But the toxic chemicals involved in making and processing photographic film are among some of the most hazardous around. For those of you involved in video projects, there are excellent digital techniques that can closely approximate the look of film.

The waterless process eliminates the fountain solution used in offset lithography, and instead of conventional metal printing plates, you use a silicone rubber plate and special ink. It’s a faster, cleaner process that reduces the amount of paper required for make-ready and thus, uses less energy. To learn more about it, download this terrific resource from Monadnock Papers, A Field Guide to Eco-Friendly, Efficient and Effective Print.

Bleeds are a visually striking and very well accepted design technique. Now, here’s the downside. To make an image or color bleed, you have to print on oversize stock, then trim to the finished size. The printed trim turns into waste that’s hard to reuse. Consider, instead, doing designs that don’t require bleeds, or if you must bleed, resize your piece so you can print on a standard size sheet, with a smaller-than-usual finished size. The unusual size might even draw more attention to your client’s piece.

There’s all kinds of stuff involved with printing that goes well beyond what paper and ink you’ve spec’d. Some if it is rather esoteric. But here’s a wonderful little checklist you can use to spur your favorite printers on to a greener lifestyle, courtesy of the excellent web site, greenbiz.com.

There are more and more great resources popping up to help designers run their studios–and create client projects–from a greener perspective. One worth watching is a blog written by Jess Sand from San Francisco called The Sustainable Studio. It’s part of Business Design Online, which has all kinds of other helpful tidbits on starting and running a creative business.

No, not the kind where they grow plants–the kind that uses materials and energy wisely.  While the Build Green movement is getting press left and right, you can cut to the chase and buy a pre-manufactured home that incorporates almost every conceivable energy- and material-saving idea. The Glidehouse is designed and built in northern California by Michelle Kaufmann Designs in Oakland–and they say the pricing is comparable or less than conventional energy hog homes. The added bonus:  They’re beautiful.

Well, it’s not for your car. It’s for you. And the planet. But when you go to DriveNeutral you can calculate precisely how much CO2 your specific vehicle is spewing into the atmosphere and then–depending on your guilt level–buy a carbon offset for as little as $28. What does that mean? Your $28 goes to buy emission reduction credits on the Chicago Climate Exchange–which, in turn, gives financial incentives to large companies to reduce their emissions. As for carbon emissions from cars, here’s a little sample: A BMW X5 SUV with a 4.8 liter engine produces nearly 13,000 pounds of CO2 annually, while a VW Jetta TDI burning biodiesel contributes 1,500 pounds to the environment.

San Francisco has one. It’s called Green Zebra - Local savings for natural living. Consumer purchase the book for $25, and then use the coupons and passes inside to save up to $12,000 on goods as far flung as organic catering to surfing lessons to a carpet cleaning services that uses non-toxic non-chemicals. Green Zebra donates a share of its profits to a local conservation organization, and the coupon book itself–of course–is printed on chlorine-free 98% post-consumer waste paper. Kudos to the founders, Sheryl Cohen and Anne Vollen.

There’s a trend afoot among consumer to buy products that are made locally, and no one has their finger on the pulse of this movement more than trendwatching.com. This website is made possible by the contributions of more than 8,000 trendspotters worldwide. Their June/July 2007 focus is on the “buy local” movement and shows dozens of client-convincing examples. Also on the site is a vast library of past trends spotted–great info for any marketer’s gray matter.

You can’t spend your entire day purchasing recycled paper and non-VOC carpeting. Occassionally you have to eat, drink, and be merry. But even then your crusade for a sustainable planet can go on by patronizing establishments that have committed to doing the right thing. An excellent example: Go have a great dinner at Moxie in Seattle’s lower Queen Anne neighborhood. They’re joining forces with Cedar Grove Composting and Green Scene Organics Recycling Program so kitchen waste is recycled, rather than added to the garbage stream.

Instead of heading across town for a meeting that wastes time, gas, and probably doesn’t do a whole lot for your sense of calm (especially if it involves a trip over 520), why not stay at your office and put technology to work?  Your laptop probably has a built-in camera for video conferencing (all the new MacBooks and MacBook Pros do, as do a number of PC laptops), and the results are surprisingly good. What the heck.  At least give it a try.

This idea submitted by workshop attendee Kaytlyn Sanders of Beneficial Design in Bellevue–a place on the other side of 520 from SVC.

This may sound like a rather blatant plug, and it is.  InterfaceFLOR makes modular carpets for commercial and residential use that not only are manufactured with bio-based non-toxic materials that won’t off-gas poisons into your office, but they’re also recyclable, so used carpet never winds up in a landfill. It’s hard to believe a web site about carpet could be interesting , but check out the Interface site and be pleasantly surprised.

Seattle is one of the hundreds of cities that’s endorsed the pollution reducing targets of the Kyoto Protocol (unlike the U.S. federal government). If you run a business in Seattle, you can take another step towards taking action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by joining the Seattle Climate Partnership and agreeing to a number of voluntary measures. Starbucks, REI and the U.W. are already in. How about your company?

Maybe you’ve heard this acronym and wondered, “what the…?”  Well, it stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, and it’s a market segment focused on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living, and social justice. Companies that want to reach this market segment can subscribe to the LOHAS Journal–a print magazine, but there’s plenty of free info (and free enewsletters) you can get right on the LOHAS web site.

Those crafty Australians have put together a very sweet web site, , that gives plenty of tips for more sustainable design. But the best part is the portfolio of handsomely designed, smartly green solutions and the case histories behind them.

You gotta love the United Nations.  Not only are they are last, best hope for some sort of world peace, but they’ve also put together a surprisingly informative, well-designed 52-page pdf called Talk the Walk, that makes a very compelling business case for using sustainability as a marketing platform for products and services of all kinds. The site we’re directing you to for the download, by the way, is called greenbiz.com which (as you might expect) is all about the business side of sustainability.

Minnesotans always seem to be lightyears ahead of the rest of us when it comes to design and advertising. Once again, they’re setting the standard with a very, very informative 36-page pdf guide called Better By Design that will take you through all the principles of designing for the environment. While this piece applies to industrial and product design–and not just graphic design–it contains a very useful checklist for making smart, earth-friendly design decisions.

If you’d like to be networked with like-minded companies (some of whom will be looking for design, web, and ad services) join the WCTA. In addition to the business development angle, WCTA is also an advocate for more sustainable business practices.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Even if you can’t convince your clients to move completely away from paper-based promotional materials, you can certainly make the move yourself. Redesign your firm’s promo materials to be delivered via the web or electronically–then explain in those pieces why you’ve gone this route.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Before you close up shop tonight, do a walk-through and see how many computers are left running. Think of each computer as a 150-watt bulb left burning all night, and you can quickly get a picture of how much energy you’re wasting.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

The latest version of Adobe Acrobat has some sophisticated tools for distributing layouts and proofs and collecting client comments. Learn about them. Use them. And let pdf files take the place of paper whenever possible.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Start a “leave your car at home” drive at your office. Encourage and incentivize your employees to walk, ride their bikes, take mass transit, or use FlexCar. And, as the manager, it starts with you to set a good example.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Consider giving your employees green incentives, instead of the usual SWAG.  Maybe they’d like some mass transit passes, some carbon offsets for their home, or a gift certificate at a place like Goods for the Planet.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Offer financial incentives for clients who go green.  You could call your program “Green for Green.”

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Don’t just brag about your own sustainability philosophy.  Give current and prospective clients some ideas they can use in their marketing communications practicies to be more earth-friendly (and, in turn, consumer-friendly).
This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

When possible, work with local printers, paper mills, binderies, CD duplicators and other support vendors. The less your projects have to travel by truck, train, and plane, the smaller their environmental footprint.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

What’s that?  The Printers’ National Environmental Assistance Center.  It’s a clearing house for ideas, practices, and regulations on environmental issues for the printing, publishing, and packaging industry.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

If you design a piece that qualifies for FSC certification, use that label proudly on the project. For your own studio, consider putting the Design Can Change logo on your site and promotional materials, once you’ve signed that organization’s pledge.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Set up a points system to reward clients for choosing greener solutions. The payback doesn’t need to be money or discounts–give them carbon offsets or green gifts for their company.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

If you’re dedicated to seeking greener solutions, write your philosophy down. Put it on your web site.  Include it in your capability pitches. Let clients and prospects know that you’re taking this seriously, even if it’s not the main focus of your firm.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

Here’s an opportunity to truly show how creative you are.  Can you come up with a package that has a second life as a frame, a display, a pencil box, another package? When egg developed a mailer for their proposals, they easily engineered a way for the recipient to turn the piece inside out to use it as a return mailer.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30, 2007.

One for trash. One for recycling. How simple, but how smart.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

Right now summer is just around the corner (or already feels like it’s here). So why not use the sun for office lighting, and the wind for air conditioning.  You might be surprised at how wonderful it feels to let the real world back into your hermetically sealed office box.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

A client may say “we need a brochure,” but try to figure out what the real need is.  For example, they may actually be saying “we need a way to tell people who use products similar to ours that we have a better solution.” Is, indeed, a brochure the best solution?  Would a web site be better? What else could you do to accomplish the client’s objectives without necessarily going with paper or energy-based solutions?

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

When making creative presentations to your clients, in addition to showing them what they’ve asked for and expect, make it a studio policy to always show a greener alternative. No one ever got in trouble for doing extra credit.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

How about forming a local consortium or trade group of creative services firms and clients interested in pursuing greener marketing communications efforts? You could set it up in a heartbeat using online tools such as meetup.com, and then get together periodically to share ideas, vendor resources, and strategies.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

Think of ways you can make good use of leftover press sheets run during the make-ready part of a printing job. Can you overprint them, print on the back side, or turn them into another product alltogether–like these stationery sets made of cut down topographic maps?

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

To convince clients that there is, indeed, an interest among their prospects and customers in doing business with companies that have a strong sustainability stance, commission some research–even if informal. Hearing from customers–rather than from you–can be the most convincing argument for getting on board the green train.

This suggestion made by attendees at SVC’s 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth workshop on May 30,2007.

We’ll be passing this tip straight on to the people who run The Seattle Show. But since there are creative competitions all over the place (maybe you sit on the board of one), why don’t we start putting smart, globe-friendly design on a pedestal.

Here are some reading suggestions offered up by the speakers at SVC’s free workshop bearing the same name as this web site.  If you have some titles you’d like to add, please send them our way.

No Logo

Cradle to Cradle

Small is Beautiful

Here’s a handy checklist from Design Can Change that will tell you at a glance if a project you’re developing for a client is meeting the tests for a more sustainable end product.

Show the world (and your prospective clients) that you’re serious about designing more responsibly. Sign the pledge at Design Can Change and then proudly display the “Change” logo on your web site to acknowledge that you intend to:

1. Learn
2. Think
3. Act
4. Inform
5. Unite

The average two-person household unleashes about 20 tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases every year. So, while going green at the studio is what this site is all about, feel most free to practice sustainability at home. Here’s snappy little poster from the Seattle Times that shows exactly what you can do at home, and how much CO2 you’ll be saving with each good deed.

Lest you think environmentalists are Birkenstock-wearing, plaid-clad dullards, take a look at treehugger.com. It’s a smart, handsomely-designed info trading post for the green set. You’ll find articles and discussions on all aspects of the modern green lifestyle, including business and design.

Vancouver B.C.’s En Masse Media prints postcards, rack folders, brochures, business cards, CD inserts, and more for about the same prices you’re used to paying for gang-run printing in the U.S. The big difference? They only run 100% post-consumer recycled stock.

Reuse can be ingenius. For example, menus or notebooks can be made from old books when bindings have been removed, most inner pages have been removed and replaced with recycled-content sketch pad paper, and new bindings are made with wire binding. Taking items with former lives and reinventing them can be unique and charming, and environmentally responsible.

Use locally produced paper and printers close to the end delivery location.

• Implement an office recycling policy.
• Remember, just because a product is recyclable, it does not mean its being recycled. Encourage your office to implement an effective recycling program.
• Paper and paperboard continue to make up 35-45% of material discarded in the waste stream. By implementing waste reduction and recycling efforts in your office, you can help divert paper, as well as plastics, glass, and other materials from landfills and waste incinerators.
• Recycle your laser printer and copier toner cartridges.
• Most toners from copiers, fax machines, and printers can now be recycled. Your supplier should be able to provide this service to you.
• Using recycled toners and selling them back to your suppliers are ways your office can save money.
• Contact your local energy utility for information on how to implement energy saving techniques within your office and office building. They will provide you with free information and technical assistance.
• Simple measures such as tuning off lights, copiers, and computers at night can save a lot of energy and money in your office.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide.

Reducing the number of printed pieces has obvious cost and waste reduction savings associated with it, as long as you do not end up having to run a re-print.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Specify glues which emit no VOCs in the process, and ones which are able to be recycled. Water based, non-chlorinated glues are a good example.Glues which emit no or very low amounts of VOCs can be used for most print jobs. Glues with fewer solvents should also not pose problems in recycling.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Lamination is not an environmentally sound recommended finish on a published piece. VOCs are emitted during lamination if it is solvent based. Large amounts of adhesives are used in some laminating which also creates an issue in the re-pulping process.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Heavy ink coverage uses more resources and creates more waste. Heavy ink coverage also may impact the recycling opportunities by increasing the amount of sludge created in the recycling process.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Some printers are now able to capture old ink and reuse parts of the ink. This saves the earth’s natural resources and reduces the amount of ink requiring disposal.Reused “black” inks will not hinder the quality of your published piece, depending on the process your printer uses. Talk with your printer about the options that exist.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide.

Certain pigments are formulated with metals which can result in environmental and worker health hazards when metals are extracted, processed, or disposed. Try to avoid using inks with added antimony, arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, as well as metallic colors. Using substitutes for these colors are better for the environment, and these ink colors may require additional steps in the press cleaning process which may be hazardous as well.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Vegetable based inks such as soy based inks are made with a certain amount of vegetable oil rather than petroleum oil. These inks are better for the environment because they are partially made with renewable resources such as soy, linseed, and corn, and use less non-renewable resources, such as petroleum oil. In order for the inks to work well and dry efficiently, vegetable based inks still contain some amount of petroleum oil. If no petroleum oil were used, the energy use in the print shop would increase because more heat would be needed to dry the inks, thus counteracting the environmental benefit of using vegetables instead of petroleum.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide.

Ask your printer what percent of Volatile Organic Compounds are emitted when the ink dries, and how that compares to other inks. The amount of VOCs emitted will depend on the type of printing (for example, sheetfed or web off-set), but the following can serve as a recommended guide: less than 10% VOCs for sheetfed printing and less than 30% for heatset printing.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide.

Consider lowering your paper basis weight (from 80 lb. to 70 lb., for example). Fewer fibers are needed per sheet of paper, saving resources.When lowering your paper weight slightly, the finished product often looks and performs the same as the higher weight. Ask your printer for comparison samples.

The cost of your paper will be lower by using a lower paper weight. The mailing costs of a finished piece may also decrease due to the weight reduction.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Work with your printer to determine what pre-cut paper sizes are available before deciding on your exact trim size.Most papers come in pre-cut sizes or rolls. By adjusting your trim sizes slightly, you may be able to place more layouts on a sheet than originally planned. Trim adjustments could reduce the amount of paper wasted. In addition to offering environmental benefits, optimizing trim size could reduce your paper and printing costs.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide.

Use paper bright enough for, but not exceeding, the design needs. Increased brightness may require more bleach and other chemicals in the pulping process.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

The traditional way of bleaching pulp has come under scrutiny over the last decade as research has linked industrial effluents such as dioxins with risks to the environment and to humans. Dioxins are toxic chlorinated compounds generated when chlorine is used in the bleaching process.Totally chlorine free paper (TCF) is manufactured without the use of elemental chlorine, or chlorine compounds. Instead, alternative methods including oxygen and hydrogen peroxide are used to bleach the pulp. Using TCF methods eliminates the health risks associated with chlorine and chlorine compounds and also reduces water consumption in the bleaching process.

Elemental Chlorine Free (ECF) paper uses processes which replace chlorine with chlorine dioxide in the first stage of chemical pulp bleaching. These processes are used as acceptable substitutes for chlorine bleached paper by some people because the amount of dioxin is reduced to non-detect levels. Water consumption also decreases with ECF processing.

Both TCF and ECF papers significantly reduce the persistent, bio-accumulative compounds from the mill waste water that are associated with traditional chlorine bleaching processes.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide. 

Ask your printer if there are pre-press options that suit your printing needs which are made with the least amount of hazardous materials, where the wastes can be recycled, and where any hazardous by-products can be pre-treated and hazardous wastes minimized.Different pre-press technologies have different waste issues associated with them. Choices which reduce the need for hazardous waste disposal, films, hazardous chemicals, and processes which can capture and recover silver are better for the environment.

Some options may include using paper printing plates, Direct to Plate and Digital Print processing, and water- based (aqueous) chemistry. These options are not available for all print jobs, however, and may be more expensive.

This tip is from the excellent Minnesota Environmental Initiative’s Print Buyer’s Guide.

When you’re given a new print assignment, ask yourself these questions before you jump to the usual solutions:

• How are the products you choose for your print job produced?
• Are there opportunities to use recycled products rather than raw materials?
• Can you use renewable resources (materials that occur naturally and have essentially infinite supplies) rather than non-renewable or declining resources that have finite supplies?
• How easy will it be to recycle your product when its intended use is over?

If you’re sending out printed materials that are recycable, recycled, or can be reused in some way, tell the reader. Give them advice on how to recycle, remove their names from mailing lists if they’re simply not interested, or let them know that the piece they’re holding in their hands has been printed with an eye towards lessening its impact on the earth. For other tips along these lines, the Minnesota Environmental Initiative has more worthwhile things to say.

Before you sit down to work on a new print project ask the question, “could this be done as a paper-free web site or pdf instead?” This isn’t to say you need to give up print marketing materials, but you might be able to get away with a smaller, less elaborate print piece supported by an in-depth web site.

SVC switched from a 12-page catalog to a one-page flyer backed up by a catalog web site

This may sound obvious, but your layout can mightily influence how many pages (and how much paper) a job requires.  If you can get by with less white space, wider margins, and smaller point sizes, you can squeeze more content into fewer pages. We don’t recommend sacrificing readability, but nor do we recommend sacrificing trees in the name of aesthetics.

White paper is the easiest to recycle, flourescents and goldenrod stocks are the worst.  Also, try to avoid using papers that are laminated with plastic reinforcers, covers, and binding materials.