So, you're committed to being eco-friendly, but still have a few uncertainties about greening certain customs, such as what the least environmentally detrimental Christmas card is. You don't want to come off as lazy, unthoughtful or worse, a Grinch, but you find most e-greetings horrendously tacky.
Either way, friends will understand, but its business relations you have to worry about; skipping on corporate greeting cards is not the best networking approach. The good news is, you can go Grinch-green without the bah-humbug or the kitsch.
Grist suggests you "improve the eco-ness of paper holiday cards" by making a few changes. The first is using paper "high in post-consumer recycled content. You should be easily able to get 30 percent post-consumer content, if not 100 percent," Grist said.
"If we support paper recycling by purposefully purchasing post-consumer products, we help close the circle and cut down on cutting down trees."
Still not perfect, so another suggestion is to reduce size, either by sending smaller ones or skipping the envelope and sending a postcard. They suggest checking out local recycling directories. "Most major paper manufacturers carry post-consumer products, too, so you are not going to have to look far."
Green Christmas
Eco-Friendly Holiday Cards
Trend Themes
1. Eco-friendly Holiday Cards - Opportunity for companies to create and market holiday cards made from recycled materials or with minimal environmental impact.
2. Paper Recycling - Potential for innovative solutions to encourage and streamline paper recycling, such as creating convenient recycling directories or incentivizing the purchase of post-consumer paper products.
3. Digital Greeting Cards - Room for disruptive innovation in the realm of digital greeting cards, finding ways to make them more personalized, meaningful, and aesthetically pleasing for business relations.
Industry Implications
1. Paper Manufacturing - Opportunity for paper manufacturers to focus on producing post-consumer paper products and offering them to the market.
2. E-commerce - Potential for e-commerce platforms to provide a wide range of eco-friendly holiday cards, making it easier for businesses to find and purchase them.
3. Recycling Services - A need for innovative recycling services to increase awareness, accessibility, and convenience for paper recycling, specifically targeting post-consumer paper products.