REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE.
In honor of Earth Day, I wanted to share all the ways I strive to make Sal Studios as environmentally friendly as possible.
Being a stationer and letterpress printer, I obviously use a lot of paper. And respecting the environment is something I am very passionate about. Here are a few ways that I help out the environment in the studio:
Handmade/Seeded paper:
This year, I made a huge shift towards handmade paper and seeded handmade paper for all of my printing. Most handmade paper is made from recycled paper or fabric scraps. My seeded paper is made from 100% recycled materials AND well, its freaking plantable.
Repurposing paper scraps
I obviously recycle all my paper scraps. But without getting too into it, a lot of the recycling in the U.S. actually doesn't get recycled and its a huge bummer. So I try to reduce even my recycling and repurpose my scrap paper if I can. My mini notecards, plant care cards, and gift tags are all products I have made with scraps of paper I would typically throw away. I'm continuously thinking of new ideas for what to do with scraps.
PACKAGING
While branded tissue paper and fancy packing paper for packaging would be nice, I refuse to buy it. Any packing paper I use in my shipping boxes is actually saved from other packages I get in the mail (the packing paper that I get when I order my handmade paper, envelopes, or even from Amazon packages. I save it all!)
In addition, rather than use clear plastic boxes to hold my stationery or plastic wrap things, I use all Kraft paper boxes that are recyclable or even reusable if my customers want to keep them as storage boxes!
Belly Bands:
NO RIBBONS PLZ
I purposely try not to use ribbons as belly bands. TBH, they aren't really my style in the first place. But the string I use for my belly bands is made 100% from paper so its totally recyclable.
Also, I don’t do any acrylic wedding invitations or boxed invitations. To each their own, but I just find it super wasteful and excessive.
I'm definitely not perfect, and am always trying to improve when it comes to being environmentally friendly. I have some big goals for the future that I hope to someday implement as well!
1.Make my own paper!
I know, I'm crazy. And right now I literally have zero time to take on one more job, BUT hopefully one day I can hire some helpers and free up time because I would love to start making my own handmade paper. By doing this, I could reuse almost all my paper scraps to make new paper. HOW COOL.
2.Zero Solvents
I have to use mineral spirits to clean the ink off my press. While I reduce this now as much as I can by first using Crisco to clean up, and then mineral spirits just to get anything stubborn that's left, I one day want to find a solution to not using solvents at all. They're so toxic, and I hate that I am using them now :(
3. Have my own storefront
Yeah this is a pretty big one, I know! But someday I would love to have my studio be more of an open storefront/studio fusion where people could shop, pickup orders, come for letterpress workshops, and/or just hang out. This would hopefully reduce shipping packages to customers since they could pickup in store!
thoughts?
Have any ideas or thoughts on how I can strive to be more environmentally friendly here? Comment below, I would love to hear them!