Before producing our stationery products, we consulted the PPE (Paper, Print and Environment) website, created by David Shorto, ‘the greenest man in print’. David’s the print buyer for both Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. It helped us make informed choices, to reduce our environmental impact when creating our first collection. We refer to it as ‘the green checklist’ and think it’s a really useful resource and worth checking out.

Brand Name

We had to find a suitable brand name that reflected our environmental considerations and found it one of the hardest things to get right. After hundreds of ideas, we settled on reecovid (recovered). It’s an industry term for waste fibre that has been chosen for recycling, rather than being sent to landfill.

We like it because it alludes to the waste fibres regaining a purpose and a new lease on life. It’s also a great name for our reecovid foundation.

Paper

The paper we use is acid free, 100% recycled PCW (post consumer waste) and has a smooth, clean, white surface. It's manufactured with no virgin fibre added and represented by our slogan WASTE, NOT CHASTE.

It has been granted the NAPM (National Association of Paper Merchants) for its use of 100% recycled material content and has been produced by an ISO 14001 certified paper mill.

ISO 14001 environmental management standards exist to help organisations minimise how their operations negatively affect the environment.

Inks

As you’d expect from us, we only use vegetable based inks and avoid metallic’s (even though they look lovely).

Choosing hard cover binders with rings

We discovered that perfect bound books can’t usually be recycled, because of the hot melt glues used to bind them. 

Some glues also contain gelatin adhesives made from the hide and the bone of animals, so we decided against using them.

Instead we’ve gone with a hard cover binder and reusable 2D metal ring mechanism, so you can add all sorts of extras without the expense of buying a specialist hole punch.

We’ve also made the covers generic (with no date or product reference), so they can be re-used and for a variety of purposes.

Finishing

We make sure that the finishing on our products does not prevent them from being completely recyclable (just in case you don’t want to keep them once used). That’s why we only use biodegradable Cellogreen laminate to protect the covers, instead of standard laminate. It’s more expensive, but we reckon it’s worth it.

These are the main things that I believe are important and sets us apart from the competition. In my next blog I’ll talk about why I think eco is the way forward and some links to other cool eco products available in the market.

Best

Ingrid