Sustainability

Environmental impact isn’t just a “would be nice to have” concern. It’s been on my mind from the beginning of this project and I’m committed to being as sustainable and environmentally-conscious as possible when creating and sharing this deck with the world.

In my “daily life,” I compost, grow my own vegetables, have switched almost all shower things to plastic/package-free, buy in bulk, take beer cans home to recycle, stitch up Jingle’s busted dog toys… You get the idea. I also am committed to shopping local and purchasing items from women-owned businesses as much as possible.

So, obviously, when producing this deck, a large concern was how can I do as little harm as possible? I always knew the shipping packaging I’d use thanks to another company that also has sustainability in mind.

What really caught me up was the printer for the deck itself. I almost went with a different company. It would mean that I could keep more money in my pocket with a wider profit margin. Similarly, I could have found packaging and stickers at a much cheaper price.

At the end of the day, that didn’t feel like the right choice. As a friend pointed out to me, some things are meant to feed our souls and not our bank accounts.

Here’s what I did to keep the environment in mind...

Card Deck Printing

Indigo Ink is the printer I chose for the cards. Not only is the deck printed on FSC® certified paper, their printing process is waterless and through a partnership with PrintReleaf™, Indigo Ink plants one tree for every tree used. On top of all of that, the company as a whole has a host of ways it is allowing customers to be eco-minded and their own practices within their 4 walls. Learn more here.

Card Deck Box

To house the deck itself, I chose Fantastapack. Fantastapack is committed to using sustainable materials and manufacturing practices and are a partner of One Tree Planted — for every purchase, a tree is planted. They use boxes made from 30% to 50% recycled material and are 100% recyclable and all of their corrugated materials are sourced from SFI® Certified suppliers in North America. They also take care to use water-based inks and recycle materials within their manufacturing walls, too. Learn more here.

Packaging and Shipping Materials

Finally, the other pieces: the shipping materials. Ecoenclose produces the final touches (stickers, thank you cards) and mailers (the package and label itself). Everything I chose is able to be reused or recycled at your curb (provided your municipality recycles) or at a center that recycles plastic bags. I could write a novel about each piece, so instead, learn more here.

How to recycle your packaging

Reuse

- Keep your cards in their corrugated tuck box. Send a care package using the bubble mailer.

Recycle

- Bring your bubble mailer to your local thin film recycler (where you recycle plastic bags - most grocery stores have a bin out front now).
- Recycle all paper materials at your curb.