Did you know? The Recycled Products Cooperative estimates that over 100 million trees are cut each year to supply paper products in the Unites States. According to Annie Leonard in The Story of Stuff, making one ton of paper requires the use of 98 tons of various other resources. The adverse impacts of deforestation are at the root of many of our most pressing environmental challenges. Through education and a collective effort, businesses can strive to reduce their paper footprint, preserve forest land, and often reduce expenses.

In order for organizations to print more sustainably, it is important to focus on and understand the impact of Design, Paper and Ink. 

Design:

The first and most important element in green printing starts at the conceptual design process. Green design looks at each piece from beginning to end considering what the user experience will be, how it will be distributed including delivery and warehousing and what the production process will be including printing and bindery.

Things one can do to maximize efficiency:

· Utilize the press sheet size to reduce waste

· Limit ink coverage/areas of solid color

· Combine pieces together to serve multiple purposes

· Aim to increase product life span (timeless design)

· Incorporate digital technology to limit print runs and waste

Paper:

When considering your print options, you have two choices to minimize deforestation:

· Use recycled paper. When looking at recycled paper it is important to consider the post-consumer waste content. The difference between recycled and post-consumer waste (PCW) is that PCW refers to paper that has already been used by the consumer (the paper that you toss into the recycle bin) whereas recycled paper might include materials that never reaches the consumer.

· Use virgin paper from sustainably harvested forests. The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is committed to responsible fiber sourcing by protecting endangered forests, ending clearing of natural forests, and sourcing from certified forest managers that employ the most environmentally and socially responsible practices.

Ink

Do you know how your printer disposes of unused ink? If you’re unsure, ask. Paper printed with petroleum-based inks leach VOCs—which cause cancer and birth defects—into the soil when they end up in landfills. These toxins can also be released into the air as fresh inks dry.

Alternatives:

· Soy ink is an excellent alternative to petroleum based inks because they use soybean oil that’s naturally low in VOCs. As an alternative, it is sustainable, efficient, and cost-competitive.

· Digital technology has greatly improved and is ideal for short-run, four-color work for business cards, stationery, promotional pieces, and most print work that is less than 1,000 sheets of 14 x 20 inches. This printing method even has advantages over soy inks. While soy is comprised of 86-percent oil (non-biodegradable), digital printing uses 100-percent nontoxic toner, which also produce less chemical waste.

Being aware of the environmental issues associated with traditional printing methods and understanding that less harmful alternatives exist can help you become a wiser consumer of paper and print products. At Green Benefits, we provide consulting services about the best ways to go about your print job as well as complete job execution using environmentally conscious printing methods. Consider us for your next print job, and reduce your paper footprint!

With our attention turned to water this week, we should not cease shedding light on the grave issue and encouraging dialogue and action. To my delight, over this past week my twitter page has been flowing with facts, articles, and initiatives to bring attention to and raise awareness of the global water crisis.

Annie Leonard’s “Story of Bottled Water” was released on Monday 22^nd, and hopefully will serve its’ purpose to awaken us to the startling truth of bottled water. For those less in touch with the subject, the goal is to share some of the cold, hard facts regarding the bottled water industry and their creation of consumer dependency. Not only does this dependency cost us a fortune for an already free and in most cases perfectly safe resource (our tap water), but it has also instills the illusion that bottled water is safer; the resulting trend is depleting our natural resources and adding to plastic landfill waste at an alarmingly unsustainable rate. Imagine that while 1 billion people lack access to safe drinking water, the rest of us have been duped into spending billions of dollars on it in bottled form when we can easily (and freely) just turn on the tap! To put it in perspective, bottled water is no cleaner, is harmful to the planet and its inhabitants, and costs up 2,000 times the price of tap water.

In the United States alone, we consume approximately 500,000,000 bottles of water each week.

What can we do?

The truth doesn’t have to be discouraging; we can use these facts to inspire action and turn things around. Already in the last year bottled water sales have fallen slightly, and this number is wholly in the hands of the consumer – demand less bottled water, and there will be less manufactured. Be proud to use your reusable water bottle, filled with clean and safe drinking water from the tap – a resource we should truly feel grateful to have at our fingertips. Particularly in contrast to those 1 billion who have to walk many miles to find the only water available to them, which is often contaminated. Makes turning on the tap not only seem the sensible choice, but the moral one.

One of our goals at Green Benefits is to help spread knowledge of the world water crisis, the damage that bottled water is doing, and to provide safe reusable bottles for you to use as promotions or fundraises so that you can simultaneously raise awareness and funds while giving incentive to TAKE BACK THE TAP!

Check out “The Story of Bottled Water”

In hopes of providing our readers with some direction we’ve come up with a list and summary of Green Benefits’ five most popular products; each of them eco-friendly in their own right, of course.

Full-Color Variable Print Stainless Steel Water Bottle

This mouthful of a name describes a new, affordable technology for customizing each water bottle individually to mitigate misidentifying your water bottle for another look-alike version. We’ve had tons of input from school teachers and parents alike who are thrilled to have access to an affordable custom print reusable water bottle that can be individually identified. Perhaps we can lift the burden of dropping your child off at school only to know that they are bound to return home missing something – at least now it is unlikely to be their reusable water bottle! We’ve heard many great reviews on this product and are excited to do more fundraising with these individually customized bottles because they’re bound to be a big seller

Tucker Bag

An all-time favorite for fundraisers and organizations alike. If you haven’t seen the unique and fun design options, take a look! Tucker bags really do make the perfect multi-functional bag. Whether you’re like me and enjoy stuffing one of them full with your gym clothes to leave in the car as a gentle reminder to work out, or you’re looking for a spacious and sturdy shopping bag that boasts fashion and functionality, the Tucker bag is your answer. Possibilities are endless; use the Tucker bag to travel, go to the gym, send your kids off to school with clothes, books, or lunches, they even make great gifts! The Tucker bag caters to any carrying need and it trumps others as it is locally made in the US, available in an array of cute designs, rolls up into a small compactable pouch for convenient storage, yet still holds in excess of 35 pounds. Why not raise funds with a hit item that is simultaneously doing good for the planet as it wards off one unnecessary plastic bag at a time? Seems like a win-win to me.

Customized Anvil Organic Recycled T-shirt.

If you’re looking for a way to limit the carbon footprint of your school or organization without compromising your needs to promote and market your ideas or gear up for the new fall semester then we have your answer. Why not fundraise or promote with custom print T-shirts that are organic and do not harm the planet with their production methods? Anvil Organic works hard to ensure sustainability and to offset their carbon with carbon-neutral clothing. We proudly print on these certified sustainable, organic, and carbon neutral materials to bring you promotional and fundraising options that respect our planet while delivering high quality. So, next time you need to custom print some gear, we suggest you consider going organic and promoting your company or school in a socially conscious light.

ReUsies ®  – Less Waste Lunches

To give you some facts, it has been estimated that the average school-age child using disposable lunch products generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to ~18,760 annual pounds of lunch waste for just one average-size elementary school. Wow, just think of all the potential we have to eliminate that waste by sending children off to school with a less-wasteful approach to lunch. One of the owners of Green Benefits knows the struggle in finding a truly functional waste-free alternative to those hazardous plastic bags that we throw out in abundance. But when he tried the ReUsie®, he knew he had found a product he was proud to promote. ReUsies® are a re-usable alternative to sandwich/snack bags, and each one has the potential to eliminate hundreds of disposable plastic bags. They are 100% cotton, lined with leak resistant nylon, and are secured with Velcro closures.  Furthermore, they wash very easily and hold a generous amount of food in both snack and lunch sizes. They’re also made in the USA, BPA, lead, and phthalate free, machine wash and dryable and dishwasher safe – all while enabling you to feel good every time you pack a lunch! 

Theo Chocolate

Green Benefits has been a long-standing proud supporter of Theo Chocolate; the only organic and fair trade bean to bar chocolate factory in the country! Theo started here in Seattle, but has quickly become popular all over the US. We are happy to offer you access to our low prices for fundraising with Theo Organic chocolate, so that you can raise funds while feeling good about the items you sell! Learn more about Theo Fundraising and inquire about how Green Benefits can help you fundraise with this fine chocolate that truly is doing good for the planet – after all, Easter is just around the corner!

Green Benefits is excited to launch a new and long anticipated product this week! Our variable print customizable water bottles are the perfect solution for kids, students, sports groups, and adults alike. Gone are the days when it was simply unaffordable to further customize each group’s water bottle with individual names or pictures! Now you don’t have to worry about sending your kids off to school with identical water bottles that are easily swapped and hard to tell apart. With variable print technology, it is affordable to individually customize bottles while simultaneously showing off a group’s logo. These bottles give you the option of a full color, full wrap-around graphic – and up to four variable prints on top of your existing template. In simpler terms, your soccer team may have a template with their team logo and a designated space for each individual member’s name, picture, and team number for instance*!  Parents can rest assured that their kids’ bottles will not be easily lost or accidentally taken!  Great for graduation, class gifts, sports teams, fundraisers, pre-schoolers, and more!

For additional information check out our site here. Questions? Give us a call on 1-877-476-2363 or email at: info@greenbenefits.net

*See Below for Example:  In this case, this student’s individual picture and name were the variable graphics within the “Graduating Class of 2010” water bottle template.

Custom Print Apparel on Organic and Sustainable Material

Are you looking for a way to limit your carbon footprint for your company, group, or organization without compromising your need to promote and market your ideas?  Well, why not create your custom-print T’s on organic t-shirts rather than mass produced materials which harm the planet through their production methods. 

We print on certified sustainable and organic materials like Anvil Organic, whose mission is to operate their business with continued commitment to respecting our planet and producing innovative and quality products.  Green Benefits makes sure to work with manufacturers who prioritize reducing their overall carbon footprint so that consumers like you can contribute collectively to making a bigger difference.  It’s all about being a wise consumer and purchasing products that support sustainable practices; and by doing so you can promote your company in a socially conscious light.

We particularly like that Anvil recently partnered with a climate change service provider to conduct a lifecycle assessment of all greenhouse gas emissions generated in the lifespan of their tees – from “cradle” to “grave”.  This data collection included all aspects from energy and water consumption, transportation, and landfill and water waste.  We’re always happy to work with companies who truly live up to their promises, especially when there is so much false green advertising to sift through these days.

Looking for environmentally friendly custom print apparel?

Well, we’re happy to enlighten you (if you haven’t already heard the scoop) that there is a relatively new technology called Direct to Garment (DTG) printing, which allows custom printing directly onto a flat garment without the drawbacks of screen printing and other environmentally harmful processes. Traditional screen printers and the like often use harmful synthetic plastisol-based inks which are full of harsh chemicals detrimental to both our planet and our health. DTG is a digital printing solution process that offers many practical advantages over traditional alternatives, such as a comparatively larger imprint area with lower ink cost – which means cheaper customized shirts or apparel! And best of all these printers are almost 100% eco-friendly because they eliminate harmful inks by substituting environmentally friendly water-based inks instead.  That means you can create your own sports apparel for your team, or custom tees for your office, church, or any other organization without paying high set-up costs for low volume orders.

With DTG you don’t have to order in bulk to get competitive pricing on your custom-print needs, and you also don’t have to sacrifice quality and durability. Essentially, direct to garment printing allows personalized t-shirts to be produced at a cost effective price for once-off events, or for customer’s who don’t require a large quantity of garments. You can do all this while imposing less harm on the environment… and if you want to go that extra mile for true sustainability, try printing onto organic cotton clothing or other sustainable apparel. All you need to do is send in your high resolution Jpeg image to Green Benefits and our printing services will have your t shirt customized on any suitable garment of your choice!

Mission Sustainable is part of a Project to inform and educate individuals about environmental issues and the importance of making more sustainable life choices. Via the social medium of a TV show, you as viewers can prepare to witness the transformation of ordinary citizens as they grasp their impact on the planet. Each show features a new individual nominated by friends and family for a “sustainability makeover”. Their green expert consultants will then perform this customized makeover to fit the individual’s needs, desires, and lifestyle. The green experts at Mission Sustainable support the changes they propose with hard facts, measurable cost savings, and documented improvements to mind and body; these benefits will be verified by credible scientists, doctors, and financial experts.

This really caught our attention here at Green Benefits as a cool and unique way to create social awareness of the impact each of us has on our environment, and how we can make positive life changes to promote more sustainable living. We think that a TV show documenting the lives of individuals who are trying to become more environmentally aware is a great way to motivate others to think about their own carbon footprint and reevaluate their consumption habits, too. It is especially nice to watch a team of ‘green experts’ who take the guesswork out of the decision-making process for you and help guide you how to live your life more sustainably. We could all use some habit changes – from the way we consume and use our precious natural resources when we shower, drive, use electricity, and more. There are small changes that really do make a difference and this show seems like a unique and interesting way to get that point across. We were in fact so delighted about what Mission: Sustainable is doing that we decided to support them, not only by attending their upcoming Pilot Premier on February 11^th (and you should too), but also by donating some awesome custom organic and environmentally-friendly printed shirts for their staff to wear. We want to continue doing our part to help the planet, and want you to know that you can too – in many ways – one of which involves using Green Benefits to promote your business sustainably!