Small green challenges

When we made the commitment to switch to green packaging, I thought it would be easy.  Just ditch the plastic bags, find recycled paper, and voila!  Famous last words.  This simple project turned into a frustrating wild goose chase. 

First, there is the paper v. plastic debate.  Everyone agrees the bottom line is that neither are good for the environment.  We really need to encourage people to reuse their bags.  It was relatively easy to find good, affordable reusable bags.  We decided on Chico bags, and sell them at a good price right at our cash register.  Great, as far as it goes, but we still have to provide something to customers who don't want to purchase a bag. 

That is where the real challenge came in.  Most of the large commercial packaging companies don't offer recycled bags of any kind.  We found one small distributor who could get them for us, but we had to purchase 5,000 of each size.  We don't go through 5,000 bags in a year, much less 5,000 of one size.  So we settled on recycled paper bags from Treecycle.  We can get them in small quantities (100-250 of a size) and at an affordable price.  The problem is they are only 10 - 20% recycled content.

Not only that, we still haven't found an environmentally sound way to customize them.  We tried to find a printer who uses soy ink, but couldn't find anyone who would print in such small quantities.  So we invested in stamps with the store logo and symbols.  But we still haven't tracked down an environmental stamp pad (soy or vegetable based ink).  So right now we are just giving out plain brown bags with recycled brown tissue paper.  Kind of boring, and they're not even that environmentally friendly.

But all is not lost.  We are going to order 5,000 of our most popular size bags, which will be 100% recycled material and custom-printed.  And we found great eco-friendly resources for our printing needs.  More about that in my next post.

By the way, if you do use large quantities of bags, check out Earthpack in California.  They specialize in stylish, environmentally friendly shopping bags for cool retailers. 

Comments

[Denise]

I admire your perseverence. All too often we get discouraged by the obstacles we face every day. Thanks for blazing the trail!

[Christina Boyce]

Thanks for sharing this... I'm in the midst of my paper goose chase... opening up my own ArtSpace and want to be green with my gift packaging... I am even smaller at this stage than you. Your story is encouraging... even as I give up for the night to try to brainstorm a solution for my quandary: I want a "hip" but eco-friendly (even teach-y) send home for our artists' work.

[Jessica]

My fiancee and I are planning our wedding, and would really like to use a stamp for a few things. Since you posted this, have you been able to find a vegetable, soy, or other more earth-friendly ink pad? I actually found your blog through my online searches for one :-)
Thank you!