Print marketing offers marketers the ability to bring in new and returning business and enables marketers to engage their audience longer through the use of new technologies such as pURLs and QR Codes.  But, print’s ability to serve as an environmentally conscious communication method has come to question.  Today, we’re here to share with you a few of the facts that show print is not only environmentally conscious, but in some cases, more ‘green’ than other forms of marketing.

1.  Seventy percent of direct mail is produced from recycled paper.  Furthermore, in the US, only 11 percent of trees harvested for production are used to create paper.  Additionally, the US forest coverage have actually increased over the past 50 years because of tree farms.  Tree farms, like other crop farms, grow trees specifically for harvest and, for every one tree harvested, three trees are planted.

2.  Thirty-three billion Kilowatt hours are wasted annually on email.  Not only that, but to burn four CDs, you would need to print a 100 page, full color, report to create the same amount of energy used in the production of the CDs.

3.  Sixty percent of the energy used to produce paper is recycled — while the average recycled energy use in other industries is only about 10 percent.

4.  Enough paper is recycled annually to fill the Empire State Building — 124 times.  In fact, paper is the most recycled product of any recyclable product in the US.

5.  Finally, Dr. Patrick Moore, co-founder of Greenpeace was quoted saying this, ” To address climate change, we must use more wood, not less.  Using wood sends signals to the marketplace to grow more trees.

Paper is not only a powerful way to communicate and drive new and returning business, but it’s also an environmental form of communication.

Timothy Freeman
President
Print & Graphic Communications Association

*Thanks to Print is Big for their Print is Green Facts*