When marketing your business you want to put your best foot forward and create a good impression. One of the classiest ways to do this is to use a professionally printed presentation folders and the materials that would go within it, such as your business cards, brochures, sell sheets, whitepapers, booklets, correspondence, and other presentation materials.
If you’re going to take the time to have your presentation folder look super, why don’t you take the next step by having it printed by an environmentally conscious printer using vegetable based inks on recycled paper? These days we all want to do our part to green the planet, and we want to do business with other socially conscious businesses. Show your organization to be an eco-conscious business by using earth friendly printing processes and material. When you use a green printer for your necessary print needs you are demonstrating you care about our Earth and all of our children. That’s a powerful message to send by making a very simple and environmentally conscious choice.
Paper Choice
In choosing your presentation folders and their contents the first choice is the paper to be used. The higher the post-consumer content of recycled paper, the less will end up in a landfill. And since the paper industry is one of the biggest polluters and CO2 creators, the higher the recycled content, the more impact you are truly having on our environment.
According to Greenpeace, the more post-consumer recycled paper content the better the paper. Be aware that paper companies sometimes mark their products as recyclable and use a symbol that looks a lot like the recycled symbol, but that really doesn’t mean anything, since all paper is, to a great degree, recyclable.
You’ll also want to know which process was used to bleach and deink the post-consumer recycled paper. Ideally you want a recycled paper which hasn’t used chlorine in the bleaching process, since chlorine processing creates many toxins, including dioxin, which will end up in our water supply and harm plants, animals and humans.
The two terms that are used for this are Processed Chlorine Free (PCF) and Totally Chlorine Free (TCF) and refer to paper that is made using oxygen-based compounds instead of chlorine. PCF paper contains recycled paper, and is the more preferable of the two. TCF refers to paper made of 100% virgin fiber paper.
Most papers use a combination of post-consumer recycled paper and virgin fiber. There are non-wood fibers which are more sustainable than wood, such as hemp and corn stalks. There are also companies which are now recycling used clothing, such as blue jeans, into the paper fiber mix! An eco-friendly printer will help you choose the most environmentally sound paper that is within your budget.
If you choose a paper that is coated, be sure to choose one with a bio-degradable coating, which will be gentler on the environment and easier to recycle.
Ink Choice
The next consideration is the ink used to print your presentation folders, sell sheets, business cards and other folder contents. Soy or vegetable based inks are best, since they have very low or no Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to degas and harm our air. Petroleum-based inks contain the most VOCs and can cause lasting environmental damage by degassing into the air and leaching into the ground, causing groundwater and soil contamination. VOCs are carcinogenic and cause birth defects, so the ideal is to use inks that contain no VOCs whatsoever.
Other Green Considerations
If your presentation folder is to include bound material, choose a binding that is made from either recycled plastic or vegetable-derived material.
Make sure to use a printer who specializes in Green Printing Processes, and who doesn’t use toxic chemicals to clean the presses. These chemicals can cause health issues among printing company employees.
Doing right by Mother Earth will boost your bottom line. That’s smart business.