Recycled paper for business cards

Laurus Nobilis · #1 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 17:45

My employer has stopped issuing business cards for almost a year, since they issued policy of printing business cards only on recycled paper. But the funny thing that this paper is difficult to purchase ( a year without a Business Card! ), cost 3 times more and, by the way, is not ecological to produce at all.

What is your perspective or experience on that? Is it just a moral cover-up for the company that already produce tons of waste, or it really make sense to print business cards on recycled paper?

RawRob · #2 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 22:03

Ray, the owner of this site, prints recycled business cards with vegetable based inks, I've had flyers done by him which were great:

www.alocalprinter.com

Rob

who_me · #3 (**permalink**) 08-09-2008, 12:58

I don't get it when people buy recycled stock for printing…. Post consumer paper is great for packaging, cardboard, and other less attractive stuff, but the minute chemicals are applied to make it white then surely the green element has all but gone…. it’s is a farce.

There are so many conflicting papers on recycled against virgin pulp, virgin paper comes from managed sources, meaning that trees used for paper are replaced… even basic science shows that young trees are better for the environment than old ones.

The process for whitening paper can be applied to both forms of paper and isn’t the most environmentally friendly of processes, so it could easily be argued that the environmental resources used to actually recycle paper are just as bad if not worse for the environment.

I’m sure there will be those out there happy to spout random stats about how wrong I am, but as I said there are supporting arguments in both camps and based on the evidence I have seen, the benefits of using recycled is nothing but hype and propaganda.

Surely the important thing is choose whether to re-use or recycle.

PinkImpression · #4 (**permalink**) 11-09-2008, 13:55

Our company is a printing company and we only print on FSC paper which is where every tree we use, we plant another two. Our inks are vegetable based as well. If you need a quote, let me know.

Thanks
The Pink Impression team

rgbartlett · #5 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 07:43

I found something similar when I was looking into my eco-credentials as a business, my girlfriend (who's much more thorough on these things) did some research and ended up very confused, because of the very treatment methods used on recycled printing paper who_me refers to above.

It would be nice to have a clear, independent and above all qualified perspective, a bit like the guy who dropped a big brain grenade into all the hype about turning your TV off instead of leaving it on standby (see http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/06...arbon_free_uk/ and http://www.withouthotair.com/).

RawRob · #6 (**permalink**) 12-09-2008, 09:04

Yes, but new paper is also bleached, so there is still a saving when you are using recycled paper.

And of course, you can get unbleached recycled paper, which is what we use for everything where possible.

Friends of mine who run a printing company and are also part of Earth First! (a radical environmental group) have looked into the issue a lot, and they recommend unbleached recycled paper as the most eco friendly, and I trust their knowledge.

Rob