You’ve started a green team and seven weeks later, your once ecstatic committee of cubicle warriors by day, green champions by night (a.k.a your green employees) begin to dwindle in numbers. Even the most eager employees look like they would prefer to be idling in traffic than be here listening to your green pitch.

Preston Koerner wrote a valuable article in Green Biz on how to prevent “green fatigue” and separate it from the “green noise” amongst customers in response to a recent commentary on eco-overload in the New York Times. Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks back, I was writing about CO2-friendly supply chains and saw the hefty list of U.S. companies that the Environmental Defense Fund had helped switch to recycled content in a drive to reduce paper waste across the nation.

Now, paper is back under the public eye in fuller force than ever because of its significant climate change footprint.
“Paper is a tremendously resource-intensive product to produce,” explains project manager Victoria Mills, “and the decomposition of paper in landfills generates methane, a greenhouse gas with 23 times the heat-trapping power of carbon dioxide.” Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch

For all those days when you believe your green values aren’t aligned with your workplace but you can’t - or don’t want to - make the eco-entrepreneur step, here are some immediate action steps to try out at the office this Monday.

Remember: while many green teams start from humble beginnings, they can grow exponentially - pent up passion for green amongst employees can be powerful driving force. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source: it all skyrocketed with Gutenberg’s printing press…

A Green Printer dispatch.

Ever wondered how much energy and thought it took to produce that shiny brochure your marketing staff handed to you this week? And no, it’s not just the brand and visual design genius we’re talking about.

Let’s face it: making a few pieces of paper look pretty takes up some pretty hefty resources and the paper and pulp industry is there to meet our paper hungry needs (so much for the paperless office).

In fact, the OECD Environmental Outlooks calls the pulp and paper industry the single largest consumer of water and the third greatest industrial greenhouse gas emitter, right after the chemical and steel industries and the oil and gas industry.

And, that rank, as echoed by Co-op America is not set to go down anytime soon.

The Environmental Defense Fund further attests that paper use is on the rise with paper and packaging still making up one third of municipal landfill waste. And, producing all those nice brochures (or manuals or contracts or….) takes up a lot of energy. In fact,

• Producing paper uses 11.5 percent of all energy in the industrial sector.
• One third of all wood harvested in the U.S. goes into paper products.

Thus, on the bright side, paper use presents the potential for enormous environmental savings. Citigroup took up the challenge of using post-consumer waste paper and saved 43.8 billion BTU’s of energy, enough to supply 430 homes for a year.

But then, what about those cool, “a must” coloured graphs and charts on the company brochure?

More than likely, it was made using inks containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs). That’s short for those nasty major pollutants linked to the deterioration of the earth’s protective ozone layer and, consequently (some researchers suggest), to accelerating climate change.

So what are we to do?
Let’s begin with the water used to print those brochures. Waterless printers have been able to dramatically reduce water consumption. For example, a printer in Switzerland, operating one of the world’s first waterless web presses, eliminated the use of approximately 250,000 liters (about 66,000 gallons) of water in one year. That water would normally have come from a nearby lake, which is a source of drinking water for tens of thousands of people.

The invention of water-washable inks has allowed the waterless pressroom to be virtually VOC-free. Water-washable ink technology takes out the need for solvent-based press and blanket wash solutions, which typically account for a large portion of a printer’s VOC output.

So, have your cake and eat it too. We all love handing a cool looking brochure to a client. It just doesn’t need to cost the Earth.

More resources

• No piece of paper is completely environmentally invisible, even the recycled kind, so choose check out these guidelines for environmentally preferable paper by the Environmental Paper Network.
• Handy printable signs to encourage better office paper use by the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF).
• Ever wondered where to even start to buy greener paper? The first step starts with asking the right questions and this Paper Supplier Evaluation PDF by the EDF is about as thorough as it gets.
• Recycled paper purchasing article from GreenBiz.com.

Get these brands and more, all while tracking how much CO2, trees and wastewater you’ll save with the Eco-Widget, at Green Printer.

Image source: Ecofriend.org

A Green Printer Online Dispatch

Do you scoff at company-made labels (i.e. internal labels) and only go for the non-profit, third party born eco-labels when buying green office supplies? Or do you take both with a grain of salt, comparing the merits of “private” and “public” labels?

If you’re the latter or if you are a green procurer, you probably want to streamline the “boom! done, I’m buying that product - not that one - because it has a trusty brand” process. So, here are the ins and outs of some of the up and coming brands that you’ll see in Staples, online or in a custom office paper supply shop.

The CEO - ENVIRONMENT®
Description
Just like the CEO, this paper covers all the recycled paper rounds. It’s reliable, it’s got experience (comes in smooth, felt, laid, and parchment finishes) and it’s around internationally.

You can buy either 100% post-consumer recycled, FSC-certified fibers, specialty fibers or 100% recycled with 30% post-consumer fiber from the entire line. Plus it’s cost-efficient.

What this paper is best for
Acid free and archival, so it’s ideal for scrap booking. It comes in different colours (all 22 of them) and is fit for the renewable energy expert at your office - all papers are made entirely with Green-e Certified renewable energy

What it’s not so good for
If you are looking for 100% post-consumer line of paper only - this one also carries 30% post-consumer fiber paper type.

The Verdict?
It’s a flexible, no fail solution - just takes some time to choose paper amongst the large selection.

The Office Eco-Star - Astrolite PC 100
Like that person who spearheaded the green team at your work, was the first to buy a hybrid and talk about installing solar panels over the weekend - this paper is an eco-star. In fact, it’s one of the cleanest, brightest, and smoothest recycled paper types available. It’s also FSC-certified so you can be sure it contains only de rigeur 100% post-consumer recycled fiber.

What this paper is best for
Um, everything: from business cards to product sheets, especially since Astrolite PC comes in a thicker, new 130lb double thick cover.

What it’s not so good for
What’s not to like?

The Verdict?
100% reliable just like the Office Eco-Star.

The Design Connoisseur - ChorusArt
Description
ChorusArt paper has top-quality triple coating, giving it a slick yet totally eco-chic feel to it.

What this paper is best for
Shiny-er, glossy-er stuff with the FSC stamp on it: catalogues, book covers, magazine covers, direct mail, inserts and flyers, books, art books, magazines, commercial printing, supplements, annual reports, brochures and more. This paper is FSC-certified, guaranteeing that the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council are respected and that the pulp the paper is made of consists of a mixture of fibers from certified forests and post-consumer recycling processes from controlled sources.

What it’s not so good for
Depending on what you want to use this paper for, it has a lighter feel to it.

The Verdict?
Your Design department will love you.

The Office Knight - The Save-a-Tree ®
Description
Just like your trusted office cubicle buddy back in the day (yes, the one who answered your harried call to finish off a research report at 1:23 am), this paper will get the job done. Made from 100% post-consumer waste, Process Chlorine Free (PCF), it also runs and prints like virgin paper - what more could you want?

What this paper is best for
Medium weight, everyday use yet “dressed to impress” paper quality that’s ideal for CSR and annual reports, stationery, newsletters, catalogues, brochures and more.

What it’s not so good for
Super thick and shiny-ish business cards - this paper has a medium weight feel to it. People that are adamant about having the FSC standard on their communications material should choose another paper product - this one does not have this label (the FSC actually came under fire last year).

The Verdict?
Your PR department or Cause Marketing team will thank you - great for communicating your corporate green committments to stakeholders and an alternative to the FSC label.

Now, if only buying coffee was so eco-conscious and those trees planted by the UN could create a domino effect..

Get these brands and more, all while tracking how much CO2, trees and wastewater you’ll save with the Eco-Widget, at Green Printer.

Image source: National Geographic

A short, weekly “school of hard knocks” history of why paper supply chain management is not as easy as it looks - but can be. A Green Printer dispatch.

Deforestation hurts. Just ask Harrison Ford - he waxed his chest and demonstrated just how close forests are to his heart.

Sustainable management of forests, not simply trees or more recycling, is what Rainforest Alliance’s executive director Tensie Whelan recently advocated for in GreenBiz and she’s right: while recycling has its environmental limits, sustainably managed forests as a whole ensure the well-being of the forest ecosystem and biodiversity survival for generations to come. Read the rest of this entry »

The big names cannot help but pump out more sustainable paper products on an almost weekly basis. From biology college textbooks gone green to carbon friendly greeting cards, we’ve rounded up the top ten green papier goods that caught our eye.

7. So, the FSC is not perfect. But it’s a start and it speaks volumes when office supply giants like Staples start to sell what most of us want to start using already in the copy machine: post-consumer waste paper.

6. Green textbooks are challenging Penn State University’s exam taking establishment. Talk about a YAWN generation.

5. Perfect for the green spy in your life? Xerox has got paper that erases in 24 hours.

4. From your hiking map to your grandma’s birthday letter: Chris Ryan, a publisher of outdoor recreation and guide books now buys up to 15 tons of outdated maps at a time to meet his customer’s demands from these premium quality, unique envelopes made from 100% post-consumer content.

3. Random House’s 2008 15% recycled paper policy: the one that triggered a short-term revenue decline and in the future (if the right CEO steps up to the plate) has the potential to paint the publishing world a darker shade of green.

2. Live lighter at the office by switching to 100% post-consumer waste paper and then showing off your CO2 and tree savings using Green Printer’s eco-calculator widget (we couldn’t resist a well-time “plug”!)

1. Verysupercool (yes, that is their real and uber-funky name) teams with CarbonFund.org to create the Greenest Little Greeting Card in Texas.

So, even while the mythical paperless office lures us with its green goodness, we still use and love our paper - printed on both sides, thankyouverymuch.

Save trees, time and money the eco-friendly way with our recycled paper, sustainable printing methods and eco-calculator with Green Printer - more details at http://www.greenprinteronline.com. Now, wasn’t that easy?

Image source: http://timblair.net | Lights out for Sydney, Australia 2007

An http://greenprinteronline.com dispatch. 

Earth Hour is tonight, March 29th from 8 to 9 pm. The idea is to turn off the lights as a symbolic gesture that us citizens, business owners, uber-corporations (hello, Google’s black screen, hello McDonalds in Toronto saving 10 000 kilowatt hours) local governments and non-profit groups are taking climate change seriously.

Despite gripes that Earth Hour falls on the NCAA basketball regional, it’s lights out for over 23 major cities worldwide like Toronto and Bangkok. Read the rest of this entry »

Image source | www.jiinjoo.com

An http://greenprinteronline.com dispatch.
When asked: how “green” are you, the brains behind accounting, IT and architectural firms who, kudos to them – both the closet greens or eco-warriors who proudly bear their eco-badge on their sleeve – jump up to say that they are helping their clients drive sustainability solutions.

Even lawyers are realizing their impact on their environment. No seriously, lawyers are sharp enough to know that using all that virgin paper cannot be good to the environment.

But when it comes to driving internal sustainability initiatives? Many still respond by: “we recycle”. Period. Read the rest of this entry »

Photos by Chris Jordan | “Intolerable Beauty: Portraits of American Mass Consumption”

Design Goes Green - The first of a series of articles by Green Printer on the cross-section between the environment, business and the creative communications industry.

According to the federal Environmental Protection Agency, used or unwanted electronics amounted to 1.9 to 2.2 million tons in 2005, with most of that ending up in landfills. We did a post earlier on the how the chemicals that seep into the soil, even decades later, can have harmful human health effects and the fact that heaps of the stuff are often left abandoned in developing countries. Read the rest of this entry »