Green Options » post-consumer

Superman Joins the Fight to Save Trees

Mike Gagnon — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 05:18:37 +0000

Thanks to trailblazing enviro-publisher Asgard Press, Superman, and the other heroes from the DC Universe, will be joining the fight to save the environment.

According to the publisher’s recent press release, the eco-friendly efforts made on these heroes behalf is made possible by a new business partnership between Asgard Press and Warner Brothers subsidiary DC Comics.

Asgard Press is a calendar and stationary publisher founded in 1999 with an interesting premise, to influence one of the largest tree consuming industries from within by proving that consumers would care about and support a business based on providing environmentally friendly paper products.

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How to Avoid the Card and Wrap Trap

Delia Montgomery — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 05:55:32 +0000

What is a card or wrap trap? A waste of resources that eventually cost more than money! Most people spend special occasion and holiday funds on ultimate trash when they buy conventional cards, gift wrapping paper and ribbon. Such items are rarely recycled and cause an excessive landfill burden, especially during December.

Perhaps you’ve noticed gift and holiday supplies proudly claiming recycled, post-consumer, chlorine-free, or tree-free? Sounds nice, but are you confused? Most consumers are when trying to decipher it all. Frustrations peak when claims are misleading.

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Green Weddings: Wedding Planning Binder from russell+hazel

Stancie Wilson — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:10:16 +0000

The key element to the success of any event, especially a wedding, is planning. In the savvy bride’s arsenal you’re sure to find her Wedding Binder, where all her checklists, magazine clippings and sketches lie.

I’ve always loved the designs & concepts from russell+hazel, a company who obviously adores paper and organization as much as I do. And as such, they realize that cutting down trees is not something they what to perpetuate, so each and every product they offer is made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials and most are biodegradable and/or reusable; from the spirals in their notebooks to the covers of their binders. And now, with their ultra-stylish Wedding Organizer Set, you can keep everything on track while still looking good. My particular fave is their whiteboard feature inside of the binder cover so that quick notes or sketches can be made easily and wiped away when finished.

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Children’s Literature: My Bag and Me!

Jennifer Lance — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:07:10 +0000

My Bag and Me!, written by Karen Farmer and illustrated by Gary Currant, is a cute rhyming board book about the benefits of using reusable shopping bags. The little boy in the story has his own shopping bag he takes to the store. He also reminds his mother to do the same.

Then it’s off to the checkout where we’ve all been before. I hand over My Bag and say, “Paper and plastic no more!” We feel really good when our shopping is done. We’ve saved so many bags by using this one!

My Bag and Me! comes with a reusable, small shopping bag. My only criticism is that the bag is made from Tyvek, a Dupont product. Dupont doesn’t exactly have a clean environmental record, and Tyvek is not as long lasting or washable as a cloth shopping bag. Furthermore, the bag and book both claim to be 100% recyclable, although I’ve never seen Tyvek accepted at a recycling center, and neither bag nor book are made from post consumer content.

500 billion paper and plastic bags are used each year globally! These “free” bags actually cost $4 billion dollars a year, and thus consumers pay the price for them in other ways. It is also staggering to consider that it takes 1,000 years for a plastic bag to decompose, and we have all seen the litter they create.

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Yearn-Worthy Yarns: Knit One, Crochet Too

Victoria Everman — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:23:11 +0000

It’s not often that I write about a specific yarn instead of a whole company’s collective offerings. Rare as it is, I couldn’t resist when it comes to Knit One, Crochet Too’s 2nd Time Cotton yarn.

I first heard about 2nd Time Cotton in Knit 1 Magazine’s first green issue (Summer 2007), which features the yarn in a few of its different projects. Though KOCT has a few other pseudo-sustainable yarns (Wick is made with 53% soy and BabyBoo with 45% bamboo), their 2nd Time Cotton is inherently “green” because of its recycled nature.

How is it recycled? Second Time Cotton is made from cotton fibers that are textile factory scraps and leftovers from their usual operations here in the United States.

In the picture to the left, you’ll see their solid-color 2nd Time Cotton in Artichoke. Helene from Knit One, Crochet Too was nice enough to send me a hank of this swank fiber. Available in 12 solid and 11 striped colorways, 2nd Time Cotton does contain 25% acrylic, which is “added for fiber stability.”

OK, so it is not 100% eco-friendly, but hey, you have to start somewhere … right?

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Tip o’ the Day: Paper or Paper with Post-Consumer Materials?

Amy Stodghill — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:33:40 +0000

Paper, paper, paper. It's everywhere. Even though it is easily recycled, a lot of paper evades the recycling bin and winds up in the landfills.

Everyday items — toilet paper, facial tissue, napkins, paper towels, and even books and magazines — can be made from recycled paper and can include post-consumer materials.

Key words to look for are recycled content, post-consumer materials, processed chlorine free. According to the Environmental Paper Network, recycled paper is a paper product that contains a percentage of post-consumer material and/or recycled fiber. Post-consumer material includes reused end products generated by consumers that have been diverted from the waste stream. Processed Chlorine Free is recycled paper in which the recycled content is unbleached or is bleached without chlorine.

Look for products with higher recycled or post-consumer content. The higher the recycled content, and the higher post-consumer materials used the better.

GO's Megan Prusynski has some great tips on buying recycled paper. She says when purchasing paper, the best thing to look for is:

100% Post-Consumer Waste (PCW)
Processed Chlorine Free (PCF)
Uncoated
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified
Made by renewable energy sources (wind, geothermal, solar, etc.)
Treeless paper like bamboo, hemp and kenaf (if readily available locally)

Do your part and recycle your paper, newsprint, and magazines/catalogs, and look for paper goods with post-consumer recycled content. Or go a step further and opt for the non-paper alternative, such as cloth napkins, dish rags or handkerchiefs.

Amy says: I often take my laptop to a cafe with internet access. Even though I usually take my own mug I use their napkins. A lot of the smaller places I go to have the small, white trifold napkins. However, the big chains, like Starbucks for example, uses recycled content and post consumer materials in their paper goods. Their brown napkins are printed with, "Made from 100% recycled fibers with at least 10% post-consumer material in a bleach free process." Another retail coffee chain I frequent, Connecticut Muffin, has napkins that say "100% recycled paper, 100% bleach-free process, 90% post-consumer graded material." Of course it'd be great to not have paper napkins at all, but unless we all start carrying around our own cloth napkins, restaurants will continue to provide 'em. Until then providing a better alternative is better for the consumer and the environment.