Awareness around environmental impact and sustainability is at an all-time high with multiple features in the news on a daily basis. There is a greater understanding of the importance of environmental responsibility globally with many individuals and organisations making active changes to reduce their negative impact on the environment by moving towards recycled and ethically sourced, sustainable products and services.
At Ruddocks, we genuinely care about the world we live in and everything we do is focused on sustainable growth.
As an ISO 14001 and FSC® certified design and print agency we are continually working to be a positive force as well as helping our clients achieve their own environmental objectives; this in turn impacts positively down the supply chain, potentially having a far-reaching effect.
We have put together some top tips and advice which can help you turn your print projects green in some very simple ways:
- Think about the paper stocks you choose for your projects. Recycled paper may require more ink than other stocks negating the environmental credentials of the recycling process, so other sustainability sourced FSC® options may be more suitable depending on the project. Carbon Balanced Paper takes environmental consideration a step further by allowing you to physically measure and reduce the carbon footprint of your printed projects.
- Finishes, ink coverage and wrapping can affect how you recycle. Laminated and foiled printed communications can easily be recycled but they may need to be separated out from other single stream paper recycling depending on the percentage cover of laminate and foil.
- We can work with you at the project planning stage to help you increase cost efficiencies and reduce waste. Intelligent planning in terms of the size of a printed piece, quantities, the production of multiple jobs and deliveries can save you time and money as well as reducing energy and resources used.
- Looking at packaging and mailing choices can help enormously towards your green credentials. Shredded paper is another product which isn’t accepted through single stream recycling so an alternative way to recycle it is to reuse it as packaging. Naked mailings remove the need for envelopes and eco-friendly postal bags help to reduce plastic waste, one of the biggest issues on the current global environmental agenda, and did you know that adding a ‘recycle me’ notice to marketing communications can, subject to data quality, give you access to preferential postage rates, helping your budget too!
- Finally, if we deliver to you we can also collect your outdated/unwanted printed literature and recycle it for you down the correct streams, saving you money and time, as well as helping you to fulfil your environmental aims.
There are lots of opportunities to minimise the impact of print, and to work with the environment rather than against it. Speak to us early on in the planning stages of your projects, we’re here to advise you on the best options in line with your own sustainability goals.