Talking the walk

I got sent this in the post the other day. Actually a few of us got sent this in the office.

I'm about to slag it off pretty heavily. Part of me feels bad about that because I imagine that every time any printer/paper company sends designers a mailer they get nothing but grief and gripes and turned up noses.

But, you know, fuck it.

You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk. This 'talk' is about green printing. Using environmentally friendly papers and stuff. The cover is printed on Greyboard which is basically all the dregs from the recycled mush. Designers always think it looks great. Good start.

Then it takes you through all the different terminology PEFC means, what FSC means. What carbon footprint means. Obviously it uses all their different environmentally friendly papers throughout.

But there's so much of it. It's 32 pages long.

Right at the end it says, "James McNaughton Group now offer a range of carbon neutral paper products". That winds me up. Don't just offer a range of carbon neutral paper products, make the whole bloody business carbon neutral and be done with it. You're either carbon neutral or you're not. It's not an upgrade option.

32 pages of big, over produced, over designed, printed thing to tell me about environment friendly options. That's just not good, is it? I'm picking on McNaughton's (they can take it) but we get sent loads of these all the time and it's really starting to get on my nerves. Another big convoluted bit of print sent to several people at the same address is not the way forward people.

And before someone asks; no, we're not perfect. We're not entirely carbon neutral and we don't use 100% waterless printing. But we don't send people 32 page mailers.

Comments

[Rob @ Cynic]

It's abit like celebrities who adopt babies ... you can't help but feel they're doing it for the wrong reasons and you hate how many of them make such a big deal out of it ... but on the other hand you have to give them credit for at least making a difference to someone in some way.

Hang on, it's absolutely nothing like that. I don't know what I'm going on about. Bad day.

Sorry.

[Ben]

Morning Rob.

[davidthedesigner]

Funky shoes you've got there.

[Tom]

It's also like people who use capitalisation unnecessarily - so wasteful.

[lauren]

i absolutely agree with you ben, [and you too tom.]

recently i started a new job, and had to consolidate the 6 different printers we were using. i emailed out quote requests, specifically stating that we were hoping to reduce our print impact as much as possible, looking for good recycled papers, vegetable inks (waterless is outside our budget) and better planning, etc.

1 printer sent me a package of print samples which included 215 leaves of paper!!!, plus 8 printed pages of quotes; 2 sent us a 16page booklet and 6 printed pages of quotes; 2 didn't bother replying and the one we ended up going with emailed me the quotes, including the FSC/ISO classification for the papers and when they sent me a sample of the papers [the first 50/50 recy in the country] i had to return as it was their only copy.

guess which one we went with.

[John]

In contrast, I noticed this week that my local Sainsbury's had switched to double-sided printing on their till receipts. Easier to ahndle and a 50% paper saving too.

[Obi]

You had to return their samples? huh...

[ninefish]

there's even more lunacy down here in NZ. Recycled paper is trucked 12,000 miles to be eventually dumped into the landfill after reading once.

We're recycling your paper, eating up all your fossil fuels and now grumbling about it :-)

I understand something needs to be done, and that even the smallest steps incrementally add up, but there's sometimes very little thinking and no concept of the logic of recycling is lost in the hunt for being able to add the latest green label to a product [cf carbon neutral]

[Jay]

This brings to mind a beef I have about "green" architecture. My uni is adding a little studio space onto our fugly 1970s modernist design building. It'll be nice, and the first fully-up-to-code "green" build on the entire campus.

What gets me is that it's only up to current green standards, which much like US gas mileage standards are...a decent start but nothing to write mom & dad about. The architects could have done so much more than stick on a living roof and designed for improved natural airflow/lighting...and asked some of the student body for input (even if we're ignored in the end, we like to be asked now and then).

[Daniel]

Despite me asking them to stop it, a local promotional items supplier sends out a monthly "Big Blue Box". It's basically the size of a shoebox and contains their flimsy catalogue (which is updated every six months, so you get to keep six copies of the same thing) and a couple of samples of promotional tat. This month it was just a pen and a bookmark. Rattling around in a shoebox. Sheesh.

[Ben]

David, they're Tom's shoes.

And yes, they are rather funky, aren't they?

[Caroline]

In a similar vein, My sons local school send out at least 5 A4 sheets of paper home comprising letters/newsletters/homework per week, at busy times ie Christmas or fundraising this increases significantly. Because I am one of those annoying mums who is on the school parents commitee, I have been in a position to offer at least the commitee newsletter to be available online, and have suggested for the previous 2 years that letters home and homework be available via a secure web facility. Unfortunately this has not been taken up (yet).
We only have 120 pupils in the small village school but simple maths would tell anyone this still amounts in a huge waste of probably not recycled paper and the use of a large amount of non green ink too. Its not even like they try and send letters home to the eldest sibling in the school. Has anyone else overcome this problem in their school I wonder?

[davidthedesigner]

Well, just as well they're Tom's, 'cos you certainly couldn't wear them with that Panama hat (http://noisydecentgraphics.typepad.com/design/2007/09/design-is-so-si.html ), could,you?