Green Printing Tip #24 - Can we be Greener in our use of Inter Office Envelopes, Presentation Folders, and Outgoing Envelopes?

After one week off, we're back with another tip for you on our weekly series of green printing tips, where we bring you information on green printing in collaboration with Greg Barber, an experienced eco-friendly printer.

Today Greg is discussing some of the widely used office materials that are made of paper and how they can get greener.

Can we be Greener in our use of Inter Office Envelopes, Presentation Folders, and Outgoing Envelopes?

Tip #24

I have done my research, and my answer is a definite YES, and we are saving you money doing it!

I recommend using the patented Conformer products. Their Inter Office Envelopes are made from 100% post-consumer (Milk Jugs), which means you are saving plastic from going to the landfills, and using really strong Inter Office Envelopes. They expand to hold twice as much "stuff". And, at the end of the day, these envelopes can be used again, eliminating all the waste from going into the garbage. Many companies already recognized the potential of these Inter Office Envelopes and reuse them multiple times.

Next, we have the Conformer Presentation Folders. They truly expand to 1/2" or 1". The construction of the expansion pockets is in the top and bottom of each pocket, and on the spine. This patented construction eliminates the need for re-inforced edges, and lamination coating (which is not recyclable). The paper is thick and FSC certified.

Finally, you can put these stong and expandable presentation folders into an even stronger translucent recycled plastic envelope that also has the Conformer expansion on all 4 sides. Direct Mail agencies tell us that the response rates go way up when potential clients can see the Pocket Folder or whatever is put into these patented, translucent envelopes.

The Conformer Expansion Envelopes are made from Recycled Milk Jugs, which enhances the strength. No need to buy Tyvek envelopes or even boxes. Your products will ship safely in these mailers.

Your savings begins to mount, as the shipping weights go down, and the visual look of your mailing goes up. Not using boxes, eliminates the plastic tape and over packing on the insides.

So, take a look at www.conformer.com. Call me (973 224 1132) or email me (greg@ecofriendlyprinter.com) with any questions. I will walk you through the process of becoming more sustainable in your office correspondence, all the way through to your outgoing mail..

Also, if you have any questions you would like us to address in future tips please email us to info@ecolibris.net .

Latest tips:

Green Printing Tip #23 - Are there inexpensive Green papers for brochures?

Green Printing Tip #22 - What does I-Tone mean?

Green Printing Tip #21 - What new developments have surfaced in Green papers?

You can find links to all the tips we published so far on our green printing tips page, which is part of our green printing tools & resources.

You can also find further valuable information on Greg Barber Company's website - http://www.gregbarberco.com.

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting green printing!

A new book from Flux, "Turning to One Another", is going green with Eco-Libris

Another great book is being released today by the Norwegian publisher Flux - "Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future" by Margaret J. Wheatley. And as usual this is a green celebration - we're proud to announce that this book, as well as all the other books published by Flux is going green with Eco-Libris, and 1,000 trees are being planted to balance out the Norwegian edition of this title.

Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future (or as the book is called in Norwegian: Å møte hverandre - Enkle samtaler for en bedre fremtid) shows how the simple but long neglected act of conversation-of thoughtfully talking and listening to one another-has the power to change lives and offers insightful advice on how to conduct conversations that will help us to genuinely connect with each other and restore hope to our individual lives.

Here's more about this book (from the Book's English version website):

"I believe we can change the world if we start talking to one another again." With this simple declaration, Margaret Wheatley proposes that people band together with their colleagues and friends to create the solutions for real social change, both locally and globally, that are so badly needed. Such change will not come from governments or corporations, she argues, but from the ageless process of thinking together in conversation.

Turning to One Another encourages this process. Part I explores the power of conversation and the conditions-simplicity, personal courage, real listening, and diversity-that support it. Part II contains quotes and images to encourage the reader to pause and reflect, and to prepare for the work ahead-convening truly meaningful conversations. Part III provides ten "conversation starters"-questions that in Wheatley's experience have led people to share their deepest beliefs, fears, and hopes.

More books from Flux:
Leadership and Self-Deception

The 100-years' Targets

The 5th Step

The Integral Vision

Dyp glede (Deep Joy): Arne Næss on deep ecology

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

RecycleBank's list of five things you should always recycle

This week we had celebrated America Recycles Day (on November 15), and our friends at RecycleBank has put together a list of “Five Things You Should Always Recycle” by Jen Uscher, we would like to share with you. We hope you'll find this important information useful.

RecycleBank is a recycling rewards program currently servicing 24 states and the United Kingdom.

Five Things You Should Always Recycle

Chances are you're already recycling the cans, bottles, and paper that get picked up at the curb, but what about all that other stuff that's lurking in your drawers or closets - like outdated gadgets and dead batteries - that you're not sure how to recycle? The following household items are especially important to donate or recycle because they contain materials that can contaminate the environment if they wind up in landfills or that can easily be reclaimed for use in new products. Here are some convenient ways to keep them out of the trash:

1. Electronics – All Office Depot, Staples, and Best Buy stores accept larger electronics like desktop computers for recycling for a small fee (usually $10) and smaller ones like cell phones and PDAs for free. Goodwill stores accept used computer equipment (some locations also accept televisions) for free.

And you can earn RecycleBank Points by recycling MP3 players/iPods, laptops, and cell phones through our partners at Collective Good, FlipSwap, and Gazelle.

Why: You'll keep toxic materials like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic, and brominated flame retardants out of landfills. And useful materials will be recovered, saving energy and resources.

2. Rechargeable batteries – From cordless phones and power tools, digital cameras, and other gizmos - these can be recycled for free at 30,000 drop-off points nationwide, including retailers such as Home Depot, Lowe's, RadioShack, Sears, and Target. Enter your zip code at Call2Recycle to find one near you.

Unfortunately, it's more difficult to find places to recycle alkaline (or single-use) batteries. Try Earth911 to find drop off locations or order a box (for $34.50, including prepaid shipping) from Battery Solutions and send them up to 12 pounds of alkaline and/or rechargeable batteries for recycling.

Why: Like many electronics, batteries contain heavy metals and other chemicals best kept out of the waste stream. Plus, recyclers reclaim metals from them that are used to make, for example, new batteries and steel.

3. Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs, but they contain a small amount of mercury and shouldn't be thrown in the trash. Take them to any Ikea or Home Depot store for recycling or go to Lamp Recycle to find other drop off locations near you.

Why: CFLs in landfills can break and release mercury, a neurotoxin, into the environment.

4. Plastic Bags – Even if you've switched to reusable bags for your shopping, you probably have a bunch of these stored in your home. Luckily, lots of retailers like Wal-Mart, Safeway, Albertsons, Wegmans, Krogers, and Giant now have bins where you can recycle plastic grocery bags (and newspaper, drycleaning, bread, and sealable food storage bags). To find a drop off location near you, go to Plastic Bag Recycling or Earth911.

Why: They're made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource, and when thrown away they take a very long time to decompose. Recyclers will turn them into new products like plastic lumber.

5. Anything you don't need that could be of great value to others – For instance, you can donate your used prescription glasses to the nonprofit OneSight at any LensCrafters, Pearle Vision, Sunglass Hut, Target Optical, or Sears Optical location (or go to One Sight for more locations near you). You can also donate unused, unexpired medications including antibiotics, pain relievers, and others by mailing them to the Health Equity Project. The glasses and medications will be distributed to people in need in developing countries.

Keep in mind that you should always recycle hazardous substances like paint, pesticides, propane gas tanks, and motor oil at your town's household hazardous waste collection events or permanent collection center. Go to Earth911or call 1-800-CLEANUP to find collection sites and events.

Thank you to our friends at RecycleBank for these great tips!

Yours,

Raz @ Eco-Libris
www.ecolibris.net

We have a winner on our "No Impact Man" giveaway!

We had a giveaway of a copy of "No Impact Man" following the book's review last week as part of our green books campaign. We asked you to share with us us what's the most extreme sacrifice you did to green up your lifestyle, and we got some pretty interesting replies, including some new uses of urine outside the restroom.. And we have a winner!

Our winner is the reader Charlotte, who wrote the following:

gosh. It's hard to know what other people would think is most "extreme." But here goes: I keep a bucket in the shower, to catch the water before it gets hot, so as to use it for toilet flushing, which is fairly reasonable, but I take this to extremes, and am very careful to squeeze the water out of my hair after I'm done into the bucket, so as not to waste it

Congrats, Charlotte. You won our review copy of the book (provided by the publisher) and we'll also plant a tree for the book and add to it our "One tree planted for this book" sticker made of recycled paper. Thanks also for all the other participants!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

It's cool and even greener to read books on a mobile phone, but can a 3.5 inch screen beat the Kindle?

There's an interesting article today on the New York Times about the growing popularity of the usage of cellphones as e-readers. It looks like more people are willing to read books on a 3.5 inch mobile screen and some wonder if mobile phones are indeed the ultimate Kindle Killers.

It might be a new round of a struggle between a device that is basically limited (almost) to just one main function to a multi-functional device that also has the capability to provide this function. If we look at the example of GPS, where the mobile competition plays an important role in the sales decline of GPS devices, then the Kindle, Sony Reader, the Nook and others are going to deal with a fierce competitor that has the potential to take a nice bite of their market share.

Another fact which was not mentioned in the article ("Novels, 3.5 Inches At a Time") is that it's much more environmental-friendly to use a multi-functional device because then you just need to manufacture one device and that's it. And the same goes to ending the life of the device - it's almost always greener to deal with one device than two or three devices.

But, and this is a big but, can we really read books on cellphones? I find it very not comfortable and I believe that many other readers feel the same. And this is I think the biggest obstacle of cellphones in their "fight" against the Kindle and other e-readers - no matter how cool and relatively green they are and how more features they have, it is still no fun to downsize your reading experience to a 3.5 inch screen.

What do you think about it? I'll be happy to hear your thoughts and what's your prefarable way to read books - mobile? e-reader? paper?

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: promoting sustainable reading!

Green books campaign one week after: This is just the beginning!

One week passed since our green books campaign went online and we're still overwhelmed by the great feedback it received. We got great response from everyone - readers, publishers, bookstores, authors and bloggers who found the campaign important, valuable and inspiring.

We would like to thank all of the bloggers who participated in the campaign and assisted us in spreading the word about sustainable reading. The 110 reviews of green books written for the campaign were read by thousands, if not tens of thousands of readers, and made an important statement about the importance of printing books responsibly.

We also want to thank the 39 publishers who took part in the campaign and provided the green books for the bloggers. You deserve a big kudos for your efforts to get greener and for your responsible printing practices demonstrated by the participating books!

We believe this campaign is just the beginning, not the end of these efforts. We hope it will generate discussions and inspire innovative thinking on how to merge "green" into publishing and help making sure books will be as eco-friendly as possible.

And last but not least - we have winners! As I mentioned earlier, we got 6 prizes for bloggers with the largest number of feedback on their review post: five audio copies of the new Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice" (gift of Simon & Schuster Audio) and a 3-month membership at BookSwim, the Netflix for books. The First prize is the audiobook of Al Gore signed by him!

The winners are:

First place - Jen of Tripple Pundit. Jen's prize is a signed copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Second place - Kathy of Bermudaonion's weblog. Kathy's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Third place - Serena of Savvy Verse & Wit. Serena's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Fourth place - Ana of Things mean a lot. Ana's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Fifth place - Alyce of At home with books. Alyce's prize is a copy of Al Gore's audiobook, "Our Choice".

Sixth place - Trish of Trish's Reading Nook. Trish's prize is a 3-month membership at BookSwim.

Thanks again everyone!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

A paper company loses a contract worth $55m annually following Greenpeace protest in Indonesia

While the expectations of the upcoming Conference in Copenhagen seems lower and lower every day, Greenpeace is still working hard to remind us (and the world's leaders) of the urgent need to take a decisive action on climate change, especially when it comes to deforestation. It also reminds paper companies that it's still a watchdog with very sharp teeth. Just ask APRIL.

But first, the protest: As reported on Grist, last week, about 50 Greenpeace activists blocked rainforest destruction in Indonesia’s Kampar Peninsula by chaining themselves to excavators. Activists then draped a bright red “Obama You Can Stop This” banner over the destruction and called on the world’s leaders to stop deforestation at next month’s climate talks in Copenhagen.

Greenpeace explains on their website that "with up to a fifth of global greenhouse gas emissions coming from cutting down and burning forests, it's clear we cannot avert a climate disaster unless world leaders take action of their own to stop the destruction."

And now for their interesting findings abut Asia Pacific Resources International Holding Limited (APRIL), a pulp and paper company - Greenpeace reported that in response to a letter they sent voicing their concerns about forest destruction in he Kampar Peninsula on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, APRIL stated that it had ceased operations in the Kampar Peninsula.

Greenpeace claimed it has now proof that APRIL is actually destroying this rainforest and draining forest peatland on Sumatra’s threatened Kampar Peninsula. Greenpeace also brought this evidence to a public meeting held by APRIL in the regional capital of Pekanbaru where the company was introducing the latest of a string of so-called 'High Value Forest Assessments' aimed at greenwashing its image.

The consequences were quick to follow - UPM, a Finnish-owned company which supplies products like photocopier paper to markets including Europe, the US and China, decided to cancel its contract with APRIL due to the company's poor environmental record. This is not a small hit for APRIL - Greenpeace estimates that APRIL’s contract with UPM was worth $55m annually, or over 4% of APRIL’s total pulp production.

So now couple of interesting questions arise here:

1. Will other companies follow suit and cancel their contracts with APRIL as well?

2. How much time will it take to APRIL to respond to Greenpeace and what will they do?

3. Will political forces follow the example of the business sector and do something about our poor environmental record at Copenhagen?

I hope we'll have answers to these questions in the next couple of weeks and we'll of course keep you posted once we'll have more updates.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting responsible printing!