Filed under: Paper
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%?
Filed under: Classes & Resources
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.
