Apr 30 2009
Business Cards - What Options are Eco Friendly?
I’ve been meaning to post on Sustainable Printing an article about business cards. Seriously, it’s been on my to-do list since I started blogging, but I just never got around to it. Thankfully, someone else wrote a post about business cards, and I’m going to give you my opinion on the sustainability factor of each type mentioned.
First, you’ll need to take a look at the original post titled 8 Ideas for Unique and Affordable Business Cards. These are all ways to help your business card stand out, but how green are these options? Let’s see.
1) Rounded Corners – While not horrible for the environment, cutting off the corners increases the amount of wasted paper used to produce this kind of card.
2) Magnetic Cards - This one’s a toughie since magnets are hard to recycle, but easy to reuse. You can separate the paper from the magnetic backing and create new cards. However, can you guarantee that every person you give these to will do the same?
3) Folded Cards – This depends tremendously on the cut size of the card. So long as you’re still maximizing the larger sheet size in how many cards you can get per sheet, this is an acceptable way to get more information on your card as well as making your card stand out from the standard flat cards. However, since these are larger cards, the run will require more paper, so there is a little ding to the environment.
4) Mini Cards – I’ve seen these before and think they’re adorable! I do like this option for companies or organizations that don’t need to put much on their cards (ex. just a website address and/or company name). Because they are smaller, fewer sheets of paper overall would be needed for the order, so quite an eco-friendly option. However, if one tries to cram all the standard business card info on one of these lil’ guys, I’d hate trying to read it.
5) Die-cut Cards – Die cutting means cutting in any way other than right angles. While this certainly would be an effective way to get your card noticed, as with the rounded corners option, die cutting wastes more paper.
6) Rip Cards – Since there are 2 parts to these cards, I just look at it as 2 times the amount of material that could end up trashed.
7) Plastic Cards – Environmentally friendly? The name says it all.
8) Recycled Cards – Ahhh, my love. Of course, you can use recycled stocks for a number of the above options, so that increases your green-goodness. You’d be surprised at the amazing recycled stocks available now, so check with your printer’s selection. The image to the right is from the Sustainable Group website where you can get custom printed business cards. Click on the image to be taken to their site.
Any other ideas for unique and eco-friendly business cards? I’d love to hear about them!
Photo Credits - Rounded Corners, Folded Cards and Mini Cards all downloaded from Flickr users. Click on the image to be taken to the user’s profile.
Related Post - Environmentally Friendly Binding Options
