How Friendly is Your Eco Friendly Stationary

Going green is not just a goal these days – it can seem like a mandate. With threats of global warming everywhere we turn, it seems like everyone is under pressure to reduce their global footprint. While finding the perfect eco friendly stationary can seem like a small step, it’s still a great way to start thinking about the environment in every purchase you make.

There are a few key things to think about when looking for the best eco friendly stationary. The obvious first step is to find a recycled paper for your note cards and envelopes. There are many varieties of recycled paper, and they vary from paper with a bit of recycled fibers to 100% post consumer waste papers.

Many papers use virgin fiber, which is not ideal when looking for eco friendly stationary. Virgin fibers mean that the paper uses only fibers that have never been used by a manufacturer. A tree that was felled was then put directly to use in order to create the paper you use. This is wasteful, but it does create a paper with a very smooth and strong surface.

Many recycled papers contain a certain percentage of post-consumer waste. This means that a certain percentage of the fibers used to create the paper come from items that were procured from a recycling program. Those fibers were saved from a landfill, allowing you to benefit by creating beautiful writing paper. There are also some papers that contain pre-consumer waste. This means that fibers used to create paper products were recycled before being used. They were either rejected as flawed items and then recycled or they were scraps left over from manufacturing.

There are also a lot of great paper products on the market that don’t use tree fibers, which take much longer to grow and have a bigger environmental impact when logged. Bamboo, hemp, cotton and flax straw papers are all great choices for easily sourced and grown fibers for paper.

Chlorine is another environmental consideration when looking for earth friendly note cards. Chlorine has been found to have adverse effects on humans and animals alike, with negative effects being noted in animals’ reproductive systems and immune systems. Totally chlorine free paper is where the virgin fibers are not bleached at all, or are not bleached with chlorine or its derivatives. This is a great environmental choice. There are also processed chlorine free papers and elemental chlorine free papers. Processed chlorine free papers use recycled content which is unbleached or bleached without chlorine. Elemental chlorine free papers use a chlorine derivative, which is less harmful than chlorine itself but is still a bad choice for the environment.