Green Christmas#2: Share the green message with recycled cards
With a month to go till Christmas, the shops are all full to bursting with Christmas cards in more designs than ever. And as someone with a full-on stationery fetish, I get rather excited about this. So if you're someone who sensibly believes that simply NOT sending cards is the only Green Way, please look away now.
I tend to make my own cards but I'll admit it's handy to have a set of 'emergency' ones for when friends and relatives pop round unexpectedly. This is where shop-bought ones come in handy, but let's stop to look at the figures for a minute: Last year 744 million Christmas cards were sent by UK householders.
If all these were recycled instead of being thrown away, it would help to save the equivalent of 248,000 trees. I don't think anyone needs a lecture on how to recycle paper, but if these cards were made from recycled paper in the first place, we'd be saving even more. Add to this a donation to your favourite charity, and the act of card-giving starts to look positively saintly.
More good news is that recycled ranges are no longer restricted to a couple of basic designs on mud-coloured paper in the corner of shops full of otherwise jolly Christmas fare. Follow the jump for a roundup of the best recycled cards I've seen this year and where to get them.
All cards at the Green Card Company are 100% recycled, and printed with vegetable-oil based inks. The company also take special care to ensure minimum wastage during the production process. There are some really cute designs here, featuring wooden snowmen and santas, as well as bold, printed messages. You can even get bespoke designs and messages on you cards.
Nigel’s Eco Store has a small but sweet range of block printed cards featuring festive favourites: you can see them all here.
Etsy is, as ever, a treasure-trove of handmade goodness, and all of these cards are recycled. There’s just about every style and theme you can imagine here, so a great choice if you want to show your friends how ‘kooky’ you are...My favourite is this mixed media ‘carollers’ card made from carefully scavenged bits of vintage ephemera and intricate hand stitching.
Green Field Paper Company has some lovely designs incorporating green imagery on recycled card and hemp, so send these if you WANT to show how much of a hippy you are!
Ethical Superstore has a large-ish selection of contemporary designs, mostly supporting charities and fair-trade initiatives including a range from Traidcraft. Prices vary.
Natural Collection has plenty of designs to choose from; I'm keen on this snow scene. Nothing massively exciting here, but there's a great sale on making each pack very good value at just £2.50 a pack of 10.
