Thirty years ago, my newlywed brother brought his bride from Israel to Seattle for a visit. The family threw itself into entertaining her, showing her all the touristy sights we never see ourselves because we live here.
So we took her to Pike Place Market, where the fishmongers throw dead salmon at each other. We visited the Space Needle, with its spectacular views and its peculiar food (we ate boiled fern fronds).
Then we drove around the Olympic Peninsula so our Israeli relative could see the rainforest. We showed her towering Douglas firs and twisty red cedars crowding the edge of the road for miles. Our visitor was silent. From awe, I thought. Finally, I asked, “What do you think?” In broken English, she replied, “Trees trees trees. I want to go to mall.”
Dead Fish, Dead Forest
Last year when her daughter came to visit, we thought it would be fun to recapitulate my sister-in-law’s odyssey. The fishmongers were still heaving fish, the Space Needle was still serving odd food (though the ferns had earned a well-deserved vacation), and the malls were better stocked than ever. But the Olympics? “Pretty view,” said my niece, admiring the vistas. This time it was I who was silent. The view stretched to the horizon because the trees had been clearcut. The dense rainforests of the past now looked like a poodle who had just come back from the salon.
Five years ago, the Earth’s population hit 6 billion. The population has doubled since the 1960’s. Years ago, a prescient high school science teacher told his class, “The day will come when the only plants and animals left on Earth will be the ones that Man finds useful.”
Unfortunately for the Olympic ecosystem, we found trees useful, but not forests.
A Pound of Prevention
As a print production manager and consultant, I am not going to tell you to quit using paper. I subscribe to several magazines. I buy books. I read newspapers. As a trained Egyptologist, I think the invention of paper and writing are two of the most glorious achievements of our species.
And yet, I find myself remembering a direct marketing study that I participated in years ago. I was asked to save all my direct mail for one month. Researchers gave me three folders to file everything in: one for offers that I bought, one for offers that I considered but did not buy, and one for mail pieces that I didn’t read at all. In one month, I received more than 40 pounds of junk mail. I bought nothing. I read four offers. Everything else went into the “instant-dispose” folder.
In many cities, that folder would have ended up in a landfill. In Seattle, because of our curbside recycling program, the folder went to a recycled-paper mill in Oregon that takes used paper from three states and makes beautiful new paper. It’s easy in Seattle to feel good about junk mail. Every time I place a newspaper flyer in the recycling bin, I feel righteous. I am helping the environment, right?
The recycling managers downtown don’t think so. They say that recycling is only one-third of the solution to our resources and disposal problems. Instead, they suggest following this mantra: reduce, re-use, recycle. “If you really want to help the environment,” explained one manager, “think about ways that you can reduce your use of paper. Second, try to re-use it again before you get rid of it. Only after you do the first two things should you consider recycling.”
Get with the Program
She had some specific suggestions for paper buyers:
- Reduce:
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- Trim your mailing lists. Don’t duplicate addresses. Don’t send mailings to people who rarely or never respond.
- Ask yourself if you really need four or five blow-in cards per copy.
- Buy backup disks and use them instead of paper copies. Think twice about making laser-printed copies just so you can see how your design looks on paper.
- Get serious about the size of your publication. Can you possibly get by with something smaller?
- Make all your color corrections in the prepress stage; don’t waste makeready paper by color correcting on press. By the same token, push your printer to hit an acceptable color match as quickly as possible.
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- Reuse:
- Don’t you just hate those little piles of cut-up paper that the secretary gives you to use for notes instead of lovely new PostIt notes? Get over it. Use the scrap paper.
- Get double-use out of your mailing covers by putting a return offer on them.
- Recycle:
- If your city lacks curbside recycling programs, work to get one.
- Make sure your paper products are recyclable.
- Buy recycled paper yourself.
As an industry, we have the responsibility to take the lead in the wise use of our paper resources. ARE we wise? Or should we just forget about it and go to the mall?
Copyright © 2002-2003 PaperSpecs Inc.
This article was last modified on January 18, 2023
This article was first published on October 24, 2003
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