“I’m Greener than Thou.”

After years of lip service we collectively seem to be getting the message: GREEN IS IN!

On a national level, the Obama administration says it is committed to reducing our carbon emissions 80% by 2050. The American Clean Energy and Security Act promises to generate 1.7 million new jobs in this country—replacing jobs that went offshore in the last 2 decades. The Recession Recovery Act is making home energy auditors one of the new “hot jobs” of the 2010s. Green is officially good.

On a more local level, the number of environmentally friendly office buildings is increasing. Having manicured plants in the lobby is no longer enough. Today’s eco-aware executive looks for low-growing native plantings on roofs to attract wildlife, light/heat-deflecting glass windows, water-saving toilets, energy efficient heating and cooling, and environmentally-friendly interior paint. Living green is golden.

Manufacturers are getting the message, too. Frito Lay is using compostable wrappers on its SunChips® line and lighting its Modesto CA plant with solar collectors. Even McDonalds is wrapping more sandwiches in paper and encasing fewer of them in Styrofoam. Marketing green is hot.

At the household level, many of us are switching to Energy Star appliances and curly energy-saving light bulbs as fast as our recession-shrunk budgets allow. We’re also recycling more.

Every little bit helps.

But what are WE—people in paper-based direct marketing—doing?

The answer is: Plenty!

For starters, we are using more recycled papers and paper from managed forests designed to meet our paper needs. The recycled and FSC logos on our mail let the world know we’ve got the message and are working to keep it green.

OK—we could make an even greater difference by using non-wood-based papers, but there is not enough product available yet to be economically viable. Stay tuned. That’s coming. On the drawing board is paper made from fast-growing grasses like rice and papyrus. Wait a minute! Isn’t that where we started with paper 4000 years ago? Hmmmm…

And yes, if you really want to make a statement, we can get you elephant-poo paper, giraffe-poo paper and rhinoceros-poo paper. It’s available today—at a price. It’s Econ 101: supply and demand. There simply aren’t enough elephants around to satisfy our paper needs. Could paper be the way to get these magnificent animals off the endangered species list?

But back to business.

Marketers are using less toxic inks. Ink will never be totally safe—I’d never want to gulp down a swig—but it’s getting better. Today, most inks are vegetable-based, replacing petroleum-based inks of just a few years ago. Newer equipment also needs less water to run and clean up. And we’re more aware of our disposal practices. There’s still room for improvement, but we’re doing vastly better than just a few years ago.

We’re also mailing smaller quantities to more highly-targeted lists, thus cutting down on waste. The data revolution is allowing us to cut the clutter. Advanced demographic and psychographic analysis allows us to segment exactly the right people for nearly every message. Some of us are getting so adept at this data analysis that we can print on demand, thus generating only as many pieces as there are people to receive it.

We’re encouraging recipients of our products to recycle. Sometimes all it needs is a gentle reminder to do the right thing. In 2000, about one-third of mail was recycled. By 2007 that number had climbed to over 40%, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As mail is still responsible for 13% of discarded paper and paperboard, we still have our work cut out for us, but we’re making progress.

We’re reminding recipients that they need to do the right thing, too, by printing the Direct Marketing Association’s “Recycle Please” campaign logo on our direct mail. (Want to know more? Go to the-dma.org/environment.)

Even the post office is on board the green bandwagon. The USPS—in conjunction with the EPA—has set up recycling bins at more than 6000 post offices around the country. People can collect their mail and sort it over the recycle bin before they even head home. How easy can it get?

Don’t know where to find the post office recycle bins? Visit Earth911.com. Many of us are even putting reminders about Earth911.com on our mail to give recipients a little extra nudge in the right direction.

Speaking of the post office, for years, “junk mail” has been blamed for overflowing landfills and mailbox clutter. Just a few years ago, that rap was more justified. But today, through our collective efforts, the direct marketing industry is greener than ever before…and we want the public to know.

Through printed logos and virtual websites, we’re reminding our recipients that we use environmentally-friendly papers and inks, even as we gently encourage them to do their part and recycle our materials. The public seems to be responding.

Now our industry’s challenge is to lose the “junk mail” label. It’s a public perception war we’re waging today, but we’re miles ahead of the disposable diapers guys which the EPA estimates take up 30% of landfills.

You don’t hear any public ruckus to ban disposable diapers. And that just stinks.

The story of FSC and Recycled papers.

What’s black and white and green all over?

The story of FSC and Recycled papers.

Back in the dark ages—say in the 1960’s and 70’s—when computers were Kaypros or Compaqs, the promise was a paperless office within 20 years. As you’ve probably noticed, it didn’t happen. In fact, we’re using more not less paper than we were 40 years ago.

The US was—and remains—the world’s largest market for paper products. And that puts a huge burden on the forests of the world. Untrammeled forests in Africa, South America and Southeast Asia are being flattened to support our need for paper. In the process, the needs of indigenous peoples are being shunted aside, irreplaceable native animals and plants are being steamrollered into oblivion, and air/water pollution on a shocking scale is de rigueur. Worse yet, the living “lungs” of our planet are being wiped out at an unsustainable pace.

Yes indeed, paper is big business. A big, messy business.

In the US, 25% of our national timber harvest is used solely to create paper. But it isn’t enough. We produce 90 million tons of paper each year but consume 100 million tons. So not only are we dependent on other countries for the fuel we burn in our cars, we’re also dependent upon them for the paper we use to fulminate about our dependency!

If God helps those who help themselves, goodness knows we’re trying.

First we tried recycling. When the concept was introduced a generation ago, the hope was that the public would do the right thing. And it did. While the recycling effort did reduce the amount of paper in landfills, it still accounted for less than one third of our paper consumption.

Then the market for recycled materials flooded, prices tanked and even environmentally sensitive communities had trouble selling their hard-earned recyclables. All this while paper prices continued to go up and forests continued to go down!

Once there was sufficient recycled product on the market, recycled papers started to appear. But because they required extra processing to remove toxins like inks, staples, glues and cellophane windows before being turned back into paper, recycled stocks were more expensive than “virgin” paper. They were also ugly and didn’t hold an image well.
Consumers stayed away in droves.

Manufacturers responded by mixing recycled paper pulp with virgin pulp. The results were lower prices and an improved product. But it touched off a moral dilemma: is 10% recycled content “recycled enough?” What is “enough,” anyway?

If recycling alone wasn’t the answer, what was?

Enter the Forest Stewardship Council. Realizing that lumbering practices around the world had to change as part of the solution, The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) implemented standards of certification for responsible behavior.

Wood is the largest component of paper. Hence, start with the source: logging. Certify companies that manage forests responsibly. Give them a “brand” that helps them win market share from companies using illegal, unsustainable and unverified logging. And by doing so, FSC reasoned, eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution, displacement of indigenous peoples and the violence against people and wildlife that accompanies unregulated logging.

Then FSC certified the mills that chip, shred and pulp the wood, ensuring they use the most benign technologies possible to turn tree slurry to paper product.

Then FSC certified companies that sell the paper to ensure the brand is not diluted or misrepresented. And finally, FSC certified printers that use environmentally friendly processes.
In other words: FSC established and maintained a rigorous “chain of custody” from forest to final product. The unbroken chain ensured environmentally and socially responsible behaviors in every step. It was the gold star standard.

But then it got even better! FSC added a recycled component to its certification process. Three labels tell the story:

• FSC 100% Virgin ensures the paper is from sustainable forests that comply with the rigorous environmental and social standards of the FSC.


• FSC 100% recycled ensures the paper is from 100% post-consumer recycled wood fiber as defined by FSC standards.
  
• FSC Mixed Source ensures the wood pulp came from an FSC-certified forest, company controlled sources and/or recycled materials.

Environmentally and socially aware consumers of paper product no longer have to choose between recycled stock and FSC stock. Now they can get the best of both possible worlds!

We may not be paperless yet, but we can ensure the papers we use are societally responsible.

Want to know more? Want to print your next job on greener papers?

Call Paul&Partners. 703-996-0800.

We’ll help you make the right decision for all the right reasons.

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43670 Trade Center Place, Suite 150, Dulles, VA 20166

Phone: 703.996.0800 Fax: 703.996.0888

www.paulandpartners.net sales@paulandpartners.net