More and more, though, print designers are taking small steps along a new, more sustainable path. We're discovering that small changes become large when multiplied by thousands of other designers making similar decisions.

Here's an example: Given a typically tight budget to produce a catalog, two University of Illinois design students assumed that recycled paper would be cost prohibitive. But using the Re-nourish Project Calculator, they discovered that if they trimmed just 1" off the book height they would save around 1,000 press sheets. This saved them $3,000, allowing them to specify a high quality, 100% recycled, FSC-certified paper. With a little design thinking, they saved 9,717 gallons of water, 13 million BTUs of energy, 942 pounds of solid waste and avoided 2,255 pounds of greenhouse gases.

You can create a greener print piece, too! Choose a regional agri-fiber or a post-consumer wood-pulp paper from our Paper Finder, use the provided vendor press sheet sizes in the Project Calculator to determine final print size, and finally find a socially and environmentally responsible print vendor near you.

Best Practices for Greener Print Design

Although the ideas below aren't the answer for the future, they are positive steps you can take today:

• Reduce the amount of paper and other materials used overall by designing smaller pieces.
• Reduce wasted paper and other materials through clear decision-making during production.
• Replace wood fiber papers with agri-fiber papers when doing so is regionally and environmentally preferable.
• Aim for 100% post-consumer waste (PCW) recycled content paper.
• Choose paper manufactured using renewable energy, or offset by legitimate renewable energy credit programs (such as Green-e; see glossary).
• Select a greener printer for production (search the printer finder).
• Use vegetable-based, low-VOC inks on press.
• Stick to digital printing for shorter runs.
• Avoid additives or excess finishing like foil stamps, varnishes, and laminates.
• Design the piece for extended use, or intentional reuse.
• Include verifiable information about the environmentally aware aspects of the piece.