Organic Picks Blog » Green Journal: Sentiments with No (or at least Recycled) Paper

Green Journal: Sentiments with No (or at least Recycled) Paper
August 27, 2007

Posted by CindyC in : Green Journal , trackback

Every year around this time, our mailbox gets a bit fuller with heartfelt sentiments from loved ones. With two birthdays and an anniversary, there’s a lot for us to celebrate in the month of September. As much as I enjoy hearing from friends and family, I never really know what to do with these birthday cards. I can’t possibly keep them all but how can I put these well-wishes into (gasp) the trash! This is both a personal and a global environmental quandary.

According to industry estimates, over 9 billion greeting cards are sold every year in just the US and UK alone. That is enough cards to circle around the globe FIFTY-FOUR times, if you lay each of them end-to-end! Most greeting cards are made from cardstock (from virgin pulp) and often use environmentally toxic inks or finishes. Given the recent “green” interest, some but still not enough of card makers are offering products made with recycled materials and soy based inks .

As consumers, my husband and I have pretty much abandoned the paper card practice for electronic methods for everything from birthday to holidays to party invitations. This practice started as pure laziness but has evolved into a family action for the environment. Of course, we can’t abandon Hallmark completely as not all of our loved ones get that fuzzy feeling from an e-card. even though I suspect many of our card recipients do as I do – pile the cards in a drawer and hope to find some use for it. However, all of us can try a few things to reduce the amount of resources eaten up by these cards.

1. Send electronic cards or invitations to anyone who appreciates sentiments and clutter(free) equally. E-cards actually bring tears (of neglect) to some of my older relatives but most of my blackberry-is-my-favorite-accessory friends love them, especially the humorous to slightly raucous ones. You can even get some really fancy e-cards from Hallmark now, for a nominal fee. There are also plenty of free card sites but our favorite is evite, as it provides both invitation services and free cards for all occasions.

2. Make your own card. This is a great and inexpensive option, especially if a child is the giver or the recipient. My daughter loves making cards out of magazine cut ups, scrap paper, ribbon or even fabric.

3. BUY eco-friendly cards when electronic or homemade cards just won’t do. A card made from virgin wood isn’t any more beautiful than one made from recycled materials. Of course, to not fall into the current “greenwash” trap, look for labels that specifies why these are eco-friendly cards. Random “environmentally friendly” claims don’t mean anything.

Good: Use 100% recycled paper with 100% PCC (Post Consumer Content) and eco-friendly printing, like soy-based ink. Check out these cards from doodle greetings that use 100% post consumer recycled paper and is acid and chlorine-free and really cute!

Not Bad: Use 100% recycled paper or acid and chlorine-free paper
Bare Minimum: Legit mention of amount of recycled paper used or type of eco-friendly ink. This information is usually printed right on the card or the card box.

To reuse your stockpile of birthday and holiday greeting cards, consider:

1. Cut out interesting pictures and reuse as gift tags or bookmarks.

2. Cut of cards with greater borders and use them to “frame” pictures.

3. Save the card (backs) after doing items 1 or 2 and let the kids practice cutting. The stiff cardstock is great for scissor beginners, avoids need for construction paper and the resulting scraps can still be recycled.

4. Save the colorful cards and the kids make new, collage-like greeting cards by cutting out color pieces and gluing them onto blank card backs.

I’m sure there are plenty of other ideas out there and would love to hear more about them! In any case, I started separating my card pile this weekend to reuse as gift tags and my daughter has already claimed several of them to make “new” birthday cards for friends. Not bad for just a few minutes of sorting effort.

CindyC atOrganicpicks

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