Recyclable materials are only the start
Sustainable paper options go further. Hahnemühle’s Natural Line is made from bamboo, hemp, agave and sugar cane. Botanical papers are made from 100% recycled post-consumer and post-industrial paper, mixed with seeds.
These papers are produced in a way that keeps material out of landfills that would otherwise have been tossed or burned. Keep an eye out for the logos below, or just ask your favorite local printer.
Two logos worth knowing
The Sustainable Forestry Initiative works to advance sustainability through forest-focused collaboration.
The Forest Stewardship Council promotes environmentally sound, socially beneficial and economically prosperous management of the world’s forests.
Why recycled paper matters
Each ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy and 7,000 gallons of water.
Source: University of Southern Indiana
Paper can be recycled up to seven times. After that the fibers get too short and weak to bond, so virgin fiber has to be added to continue the cycle.
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Keeping paper and paperboard out of landfills lowered U.S. greenhouse gases by 155 million metric tons of CO2 in 2018, the equivalent of taking over 33 million cars off the road for a year.
Source: Two Sides North America
Almost 75% of what ends up in the U.S. waste stream could be recycled. Only about 30% of it actually is.
Source: recyclingbin.comThink outside the paper box
Reusable totes and pens made from post-consumer cardboard for the office. Maybe it is time to ditch the paper menus too.
The average reusable bag outlasts more than 700 disposable plastic bags. One person using them for life keeps over 22,000 plastic bags out of the environment.
Source: CleanTechnica
A 2,600 square foot restaurant needs at least 2,000 pages of disposable menus a week, roughly twelve trees a year. Across a million U.S. restaurants that is 12 million trees for single-use dining.
Source: eightfold.ai
On a small run, offset printing used 3.7 times more paper than digital for the same job, and about 16g of ink per impression against 1g for digital.
Source: Wilen Group
Digital printing is fast and flexible, so there is no pre-printing and no excess inventory to store or throw out. That helps the environment and your bottom line.
Source: Wilen Group
Around 630 trees were planted on behalf of Pitch Black in 2019. Each one removes about 50 lbs of pollution from the atmosphere a year, replacing it with oxygen while protecting land and helping native ecological diversity return.
