Go Green and Save Green
By Amanda Myers
The green movement around the world is exploding like never before, even within the paper industry, giving your company the opportunity to make a difference while making a buck.
What? You say that you’re not in the paper business? I’ve got news for you. We’re all in the paper business, particularly marketers. We all use some form of paper, and now, we can all go green while saving green. Let me explain.
The most essential idea behind environmentalism is conservation. Coincidentally, one-half of the profitability equation is conservation, saving resources such as money and labor. When a company uses fewer raw materials, less labor and less energy to create a product, the cost of the product goes down. In regards to your company’s paper use, that means you can save paper costs by reducing, reusing and recycling. That applies to your internal paper usage, like copier and printer paper, and external paper usage such as your brochures and direct mail, which are printed by the thousands or even tens of thousands.
Did you know that America uses 100 million tons of paper each year? In fact, on average, Victoria’s Secret alone sends out nearly 1,000,000 catalogs every day. But by transitioning its catalogs to recycled and sustainably harvested, cost-effective paper content, the company is conserving resources, natural and corporate alike. That kind of business move pleases customers, corporate ethicists, environmentalists and, most of all, shareholders.
So how can your company make a similar switch? Simple. Green paper choices are everywhere.
For new paper usage, recycled paper is the greenest choice by far because it requires fewer resources to recycle old paper than it does to grow and harvest new forests and process them into wood pulp for paper. Because of these reduced resources, recycled paper is frequently less expensive than paper from virgin forests. Most paper mills and companies now offer options with at least 30 percent recycled content and up to 100 percent recycled content.
The next-best thing to recycled content is sustainable content. FSC (Forest Stewardship Council)-certified papers are made from wood harvested sustainably from healthy and well-managed forests or recycled fibers. In other words, they didn’t come from illegal lumbering, which occurs in the rain forests of Indonesia, Bolivia and Africa. Also, FSC-certified papers are guaranteed to have passed from a certified mill onto a certified merchant. Tight controls like these not only benefit the environment, but they also ensure that we will have a plentiful and affordable source for future paper needs. Remember, we’re in the paper business, so we need to preserve our supply.
Beyond these two general choices, recycled vs. certified, there are a number of ways to be greener in your paper usage that can directly and indirectly save your company money, including:
Review your direct mail lists
When was the last time you updated your direct mail list? Odds are that you’re wasting a lot of direct mail pieces, money and perfectly good paper.
Review your delivery options
How much packaging do you include in your direct mails and/or product shipments? If your direct mails are over-packaged or even under-packaged, they could find their way to the trash, wasting your entire marketing investment for that recipient.
Check your office paper
Most paper mills are working hard to meet the demand for low-cost recycled and/or FSC-certified choices. Finding a good one at the right price is easy.
Cancel unwanted catalogs and magazines
These may not cost you money directly, but the marketing costs are eventually passed on to you. Plus, reducing their consumption of paper will leave a more cost-effective supply for your future marketing pieces. There are only so many forests out there.
Recycle and re-use office paper
Start a paper-recycling program in your office. For internal documents such as memos or reports, insert previously printed paper back into your printer or copier and print on the backsides. You’ll cut your internal paper usage in half!
The green movement is here to stay, particularly as businesses continue to realize that their best interests are very much in line with the planet’s. Waste is waste, after all. Whether it’s corporate waste or environmental waste, it costs us all in one way or another. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to seemingly little things like your paper usage. Because now, with today’s paper choices, it’s easier than ever to “green up” your business practices.
And your bottom line.
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