Try This at Home with Maddy: BUILDING A (GREENER) BUSINESS- A Little Goes a Long Way

No April Fool's jokes here - going more eco-friendly is a huge trend as we become more and more aware of the effects of our day to day lives on the environment and our resources. When it comes to going greener, I take the stance that a little goes a long way - it's better to make slight changes to your routine than go all out.

Why's that, you ask? Well, I consider myself a pretty average person, and when I look back at all of my New Year's resolutions - the ones that I've kept are ones that don't alter my lifestyle drastically, but in steps. If everyone suddenly dropped what they were doing and were more aware of their consumption, that would be great - but it's not going to happen, and I'll admit I'd be one of those who wouldn't be able to keep it up. If everyone changed one or two things in their routine, however, that could add up to a huge impact. Think about a common daily commuter, for example. if we have John Doe traveling roughly thirty miles one way and he's driving a car with average consumption, but he opted to take public transportation to work instead, he'd save nearly 14 gallons of gas per week. Blow that number out to the whole year, and you get over 700 gallons of fuel saved. If John Doe did nothing else, he'd still make a huge impact, and it's a change he can most likely commit to because it's not altering his routine drastically.

It can be hard to think of little changes you can make in your personal life since it's such a case by case basis, but it's even harder when you think of what changes you can make in your business - especially if you've been at it for a while. Efficiency comes with knowing your process and streamlining it, and changing your routine to become more resource and environment conscious can slow you down. Never fear, Maddy is here: I've created a list of ideas that you can adopt that are not process-intrusive but can still go green.

• If you use a letterpress machine, clean it with baby oil rather than mineral spirits or other standard chemicals. It's true, it works! When I purchased my machine, I was concerned about using chemicals. They're bad for the environment, and bad for you - not to mention extremely flammable and dangerous. It also didn't fit in with my eco-friendly hopes for my press company. The man who sold me my Craftsman Imperial had been a printer for 60+ years and had the same environmental and safety concerns I had, and showed me this nifty trick. The baby oil cleaned it perfectly, and better yet - the whole press was oiled at the same time! Killing two birds with one stone, eh?
• Request digital receipts rather than paper where possible. If your bank or some of your suppliers offer you the option of a PDF receipt, take it to save paper. Make sure you purchase an external hard drive (I recommend LaCie) to back up your receipts, though!
• If you work with paper, look for "tree free" cotton paper or recycled papers. I prefer cotton papers since they're from a renewable resource. You should always order paper samples first - some cotton papers, if they're not prepared properly, can feel tough rather than soft. Crane's Lettra, which was designed for letterpress but can handle multiple printing processes extremely well, is an ideal cotton paper.
• Work close to home. If you need a studio and can't work in your home space, find a location close to where you live so you can more easily take public transportation or use less gas.
• Streamline your packaging. Take a look at what you're putting your products in. If you're selling a travel tin candle, does it really need an additional branded box around it, or could you brand the tin itself with a round label? This will cut down on your costs as well as your consumption - a win-win situation!
• Fabric can be recycled, too. This site lists a few places that will buy up fabric scraps for recycling if you can't find different projects to use your leftovers on. Also, consider starting a "scrap swap" with friends or local crafters to trade leftovers so each of you can be inspired and can create without spending more out of your pockets!
• Sell any leftover supplies at a Salvation Army or similar store. If you can't use it, somebody will want it - don't throw it out! Do a charitable thing while avoiding waste - you can probably also get a tax write off for it.
• Take an unconventional look at what "recycled materials" means. You know the saying, "One man's trash is another man's treasure?" Hop around garage sales and estate sales for unexpected, unique materials that might otherwise be thrown out. Fabulous curtains from the 1950s? There's a lot of heavy duty fabric right there! Old silverware or dusty jewelry? Re-purpose the metal or break apart the jewelry elements to make a new piece.

Maddy Susser is a graphic designer and artist that has a soft spot for all things paper and English period pieces (in other words, men in tights and funny vests). Armed with a number of years in marketing for retail on a small business and corporate scope she collects tidbits of information learned along the way and puts it into easy terms to share, formerly on her blog Try This at Home, and now on Modish. She's currently working on a line of paper goods.

Comments

[Angelia]

All great ideas, another which is how I have lived most of my life, coming from a poor rural community, most "green" ideas will also save you money. This can be a plus in these strange economic times. A

[Meredith]

This is really a poorly researched post -

The main - and often only - ingredient in Baby Oil is Mineral Oil which comes from the exact same place as Mineral Spirits - they're both petroleum by-products.

As for switching from tree-based paper to Cotton paper - cotton requires more pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers to grow than virtually any other plant currently being mass-produced. If you want to use a better paper product - look for tree based papers that have received the Forest Stewardship Councils seal, or contain a high percentage of Post Consumer Waste recycled content - which is different from just any recycled content. Or, if you're going to go Cotton - look for organic cotton paper.

In addition to looking at the branded boxes that items are sold it - how about the materials used in packaging these products for shipment? Much can be done with Post Consumer Waste boxes, and always shipping in the smallest possible box - which not only saves money, and material, but also cuts down on the carbon released in the shipping process.

[Maddy]

Meredith -

The point of this post is better alternatives, not going 100% green, if you read the introduction. Are there always going to be more drastic steps you can take? Obviously. That's not the point of this post, it's meant to inspire people to take small steps for a big impacts.

Yes, they're both oils - but Mineral Spirits release fumes into the atmosphere, whereas baby oil doesn't. The health benefits are pretty straightforward, so I won't bother continuing writing on that.

If you notice, recycled papers are mentioned, I just didn't call out the FSC certification explicitly. I'm not going to confine people to a recycled only solution, however, because I think that's unfair. I don't see anything wrong with opting for an easily renewable resource as a way to do your part - it's far superior to deforestation without certification, wouldn't you agree?

I appreciate your input, but I think dismissing it as poorly researched was a little rude, considering you seemed to have missed the point of the article.

[banstinky.com]

I agree with Meredith the baby oil I've seen is mineral oil, a petroleum product. How about some cooking oil - canola, soy, whatever? It should clean just as well. :)

[Maddy]

Certainly worth a try!

[modish]

Hi Meredith!
As the owner of this blog I'd like to ask that you approach your comments (and my guest writers) more respectfully- your opinions are appreciated and encouraged and I love seeing a discussion begin, but there's no need to be dismissive or flippant right from the start- it taints all the good points you have to make! Thanks!

[Felicia]

Beautiful flowers and excellent tips :)

[Tina]

I agree with Meredith & banstinky as well. Baby oil reduces smell, which is good for our noses, but the waste is still very similar to using mineral spirits, so baby oil ends up being not all that much greener. Vegetable shortening, a favorite amongst many letterpress printers, or vegetable oil is a far greener option and takes ink off just as well.

I'm confused, though, of exactly how the press gets oiled at the same by cleaning with baby oil. A lot of letterpress newbies read posts like this, so I hope you can clarify to help them care for their presses properly. When I clean my press at the end of a print run, I don't get anywhere near most of the oiling holes on either of my presses. That's definitely a separate process that I use a nozzled oil can for. Could you please explain what you meant by killing two birds with one stone? Are you cleaning the press from top to bottom on a regular basis?

[amy purple]

I went paperless with our billing for most of our accounts except i was still getting some for our car payment. I am ahead by two months on the payment, so when I get the statement it's useless since it says I owe x amount in 2 months from now. Anyhow, so I called them last week to ask they stop sending me statements because it was a waste of money and paper, etc. They REFUSED! They said they can't stop sending them because then, there's no record of them letting me know that i owe them this much at this time. Uhhh, what do you think the loan papers that I signed were for?