Greener Direct Mail - Green Printing

There is a lot more to being environmentally friendly then using recycled paper. Putting greater emphasis on 1:1 printing will boost your marketing effectiveness while reducing carbon emissions, solid waste and the use of petroleum.

1:1 printing uses digital presses that use no process chemicals, film or plates. They use no spray powders or wash-up chemicals. Offset presses use 100 or more start up sheets compared with 10 or less for a digital press.

1:1 printing reduces postal waste. Junk mail isn’t just a shot gun approach to marketing, it is a waste of paper, envelopes, inks and coating and all the fossil fuel used to produce them.

By personalizing your marketing materials you are increasing your chances that your recipients will open and read them.

That along with a well designed campaign will result in greater response numbers.

That brief pitch for the use 1:1 marketing just scratches the surface to greener approaches to direct mail design and production. View our article about Variable Data Printing for more details. The “green” steps we outline below apply to all printing. We've included resources at the end which will help take you even further toward eco-friendly practices.

Start at the beginning with a mailing list that is clean and up-to-date. Reducing the amount of undeliverable mail will reduce your environmental impact by decreasing the paper, ink and energy used when producing these pieces. There are many resources available to help hone your lists:

Zip code correction ensures that mail is delivered to its proper recipient
Address standardization eliminates address errors
National Change of Address Linkage System (NCOA LINK®) corrects addresses before mailing
Address Element Correction (AEC and AEC II) corrects problem addresses through enhanced
ZIP+4® processing
U.S. Postal Service® Address Change Service corrects an address after mailing
DMA Mail Preference Service (MPS) subscription lists consumers who want to receive less unrequested advertising mail

To find these tools, refer to the websites listed at the end of this article.

The most tangible opportunity to go green is your choice of paper. Even though Direct Mail accounts for only 2.3% (in weight) of total U.S. municipal waste, we have the power to decrease it even further. To keep your direct mail piece as eco-friendly as possible:

Buy the highest post-consumer content paper that your budget and functional needs allow
Print on the lightest wight of paper you can
Investigate papers made from alternative materials, such as sugarcane
Choose paper made using chemical-free processes (chlorine-free, for example)
Experiment with formats that require less paper and packaging to reduce paper use and overall weight
Reduce the use of plastics in mail pieces by using windowless envelopes
Work with paper mills that use environmentally friendly production practices and that use sustainability practices to renew forest resources
Ask a paper vendor or mill about producing a new paper to fit your eco-friendly needs

Green Design Considerations

Design a piece so that as many as possible can be printed per sheet
Do you really need an oversize post card to get your point across
Do you really need an envelope
Print on both sides of materials

Consult with printer to ensure the best use of press size - sometimes a slight alteration of size can allow more to be produced from each press sheet

Eco-friendly Inks and Coatings

Seek out inks that are not petroleum-based, such as agri-based inks which are predominately made from soybean oil
Opt for less ink usage/coverage (fewer colors usually means fewer chemicals)
Research different coatings and the impact of each on the environment before using them
Find vendors that use renewable energy sources

Consult print partners about different inks and their various uses.

Encourage Recycling

According the the Direct Marketing Association, many consumers do not realize that catalogs, mail and magazines can be recycled. You can inform and encourage recipients to be environmentally responsible by including the DMA's "Recycle Please" logo on your piece.

Certifications, Acronyms, and Terminology

Virgin Fiber: Paper comes directly from new trees; no recycled content
Recycled Fiber: Paper is made from reprocessed wastepaper
Post-Consumer Waste (PCW): Recovered after consumer usage
Many papers contain 10%-20% PCW
30%-100% PCW papers are available
Alternative Fiber: Sometimes called tree-free paper produced from two sources
Crops grown specifically for paper-making (usually annuals, such as kenaf or hemp)
Residues from agricultural crops (such as straw from rice, wheat, and rye)
Wind Power: indicates paper was made using wind power (generated bt wind turbines)
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC): Logo can only be used when all companies in the production process have FSC chain of custody certification. The FSC provides international recognition of responsible forest management and issues certifications for:
Paper companies that use pulp from well-managed forests certified according to FSC's standards
Paper merchants that sell FSC-certified paper
Printing companies that use FSC-certified papers in the printing process
Green Seal: Tests, evaluates, and certifies that manufacturers, industry sectors, purchasing groups, and others are environmentally responsible
Totally Chlorine-Free (TCF):Paper is bleached without using any chlorine or chlorine compounds
Processed Chlorine-Free (PCF):Paper is made from PCW that may contain virgin fiber, both of which are processed without using chlorine or chlorine compounds
Elemental Chlorine-Free (ECF):Paper is bleached with chlorine compounds such as chlorine dioxide (CIO2) but free of elemental chlorine (CI2)

For further study:

Websites

the-dma.org/environment - the Direct Marketing Association's green information
preference.the-DMA.org - the Direct Marketing Association's advertising mail opt-out list
delivermagazine.com - Direct Marketing magazine; go to "Topic" and select "Green Marketing"
usps.com/ncsc/welcome.htm - Postal Service TM address quality information
edf.org/papercalculator - interactive tool that shows the environmental impact of paper choices