Green Options

In keeping with what seems to be a personal theme this week about paper recycling, I was motivated by a recent commenter to learn more about magazines and their recyclability.

Nils Davis, said motivating commenter and blogger at Keeping the Lights On, posed this great question:

Can magazines be turned into magazines again, or do they always require ‘virgin’ paper?

Well, I don’t yet have the specifics to answer the first part of that question. But it seems the answer to the second part is a resounding “No.”

Think about paper much? If not, you should … as becomes clear as you view “The Secret Life of Paper,” a video put together by INFORM, a New York-based non-profit that produces environmental reports designed to “shape corporate practice, public policy and public opinion.”

Part of a video series that will highlight the “secret life” and environmental impact of everyday products, the 5 1/2-minute-long paper video is more informative than its length might suggest. There are hints of “Hungry Planet: What the World Eats” in the images of an ordinary U.S. family and the piles of paper it consumes over the course of two weeks. (The stacks shrink considerably for families in the U.K. and even moreso for families in Mexico.) There are stats, too, presented in “An Inconvenient Truth” style:

Welcome to the first Carnival of Green Crafts!

For more information about the Carnival, please see the Carnival of Green Crafts home page here at Crafting A Green World.

We’re pleased as punch to announce that the next Carnival will be August 9th at BlogHer, courtesy of Hobbies, Crafts & DIY Contributing Editor Debra Roby. Send in your posts via the carnival submission form today!

Thanks so much to all the crafters who shared their posts with us for this Carnival.  Let’s dig in!

Parents are often the biggest converts to the green movement and those parents often become vigilant about going green. Often aiding them in their quest are their children and manufacturers who cater to this market.

Now the nations largest publisher and distributor of children’s books has joined the movement. Scholastic, announced recently that the company is further strengthening its sustainable paper procurement practices. Their goal:

…to increase its publication paper purchase of FSC-certified paper to 30% and its use of recycled paper to 25%, of which 75% will be post-consumer waste.

It makes sense that a growing number of religious organizations are speaking out to curb global warming and protect the environment: after all, people of faith believe in the sanctity of God’s creations … not just humans, but all creatures (and plants) great and small.

In that same spirit, it also makes sense that a publisher of religious materials has now created the first "green" Bible. Thomas Nelson Inc., a Bible and religion

[...]

Image: msnbc.comNow you can feel better about tearing through the final adventures at Hogwarts this summer. The final book in the Harry Potter series will be printed on Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified paper.

The Rainforest Alliance is working with children's publisher, Scholastic, to print the book using paper containing 30% post-consumer recycled content, and to make sure at least 65% of the 16,700 tons of paper needed

[...]

In my first post on “green” marketing, someone posted a comment about a company called Smart Levels that prints on recycled paper with soy-based inks. This piqued my interest, so I went and checked out the company’s website. Sure enough, there it was—the company’s proud declaration on its home page.

(Gotta love the tree frog, too. I’m a sucker for tree frogs.)

I think it’s terrific that more and more printing companies are moving toward environmental sustainability. It’s also terrific that marketers are increasingly caring about environmental sustainability—to the point that printers see investing in and promoting it as an effective strategy.

What caught my eye on Smart Levels’ home page, however, was not what was there but what was not. There were no other links to further efforts toward environmental sustainability. This might lead one to the conclusion that, by itself, printing on recycled stocks and using soy inks is enough.

But is it?

What Else Is in My Paper?

In reality, while recycled content and soy inks are a great start, there is much more you can do. Let’s just consider the paper. For example, have you ever asked the question, “Beyond recycled content, what else in my paper?”