How Earth Friendly Is E-Green?

All facets of business are under pressure to go GREEN. Whether it’s a genuine core value or one forced upon a business to remain a vendor of choice, companies are quickly converting old processes into those more eco-friendly -- marketing communications among them. Before the birth of the Internet, reaching your target market relied on a compelling message combined with great graphic design that was broadcast through a myriad of printed formats. Today, print is often considered the stepchild of marketing communications with e-commerce now the pampered preference.

No doubt, the Internet is second to none for letting companies and consumers share information instantaneously. Its electronic marketing barrage is witnessed daily via emails, e-newsletters, e-zines, e-brochures, and e-publicity. All the while, its proponents reminding readers to think twice before printing out a copy of anything received electronically- to save a tree. But do these preservationists really know what they're asking? GREEN.

The Hottest Color in Print Trees are a renewable resource. The paper industry as a whole plants three times as many trees as they harvest, according to BizBlog - www.bizprintblog.com - the online voice of Bizprint, a Boise Cascade-owned printer and marketing consultancy. The firm says that vegetable inks are now in widespread use by commercial printers. These are often flax seed or soy based with very low VOC (volatile organic compounds) content.

On the flip side, it’s been reported by NewPage Corporation, the largest coated paper manufacturer in North America, out of Miamisburg, Ohio, that 62 trillion spam emails are sent every year contributing greenhouse gases equivalent to two billion gallons of gasoline; that 70 percent of toxic waste in U.S. landfills comes from e-waste; or that burning one CD produces four times as much C02 as printing a single annual report. GreenPeace USA states that e-waste is now the fastest growing component of the municipal solid waste stream because people are upgrading their computers, printers, televisions, and audio equipment more frequently than ever before.

Metals & Minerals vs. Plants & Trees

Building the machines to transmit our paperless and so called earth-friendly marketing communications has some not-so-friendly ramifications. Bizprint reports that after all the raw materials are collected to manufacture a computer -including zinc, iron and nickel - it takes as many chemicals and as much water and fossil fuels to make one desktop computer as it does to build a mid-size car. In contrast, paper's main component - wood from trees - is a readily renewable resource. In addition, 99 percent of the chemicals used in the pulping process are recovered and burned in the mills’ boilers to create steam energy, says Bizprint. Greener or soy-based inks are easier on the environment, as well, since they release less than one-fifth of the amount of VOCs emitted by petroleum-based inks.

And considering less soy ink is needed for adequate print, this means petroleum-based inks emit 70 percent more VOCs than soy-based inks for the same amount of printing. The online magazine continues in saying that the second benefit of soy-basedinks is environmental. Unlike petroleum, soybeans are a renewable resource. Producing soy inks also requires only .5 percent of the total energy needed to produce petroleum-based inks, and soy inks are biodegradable. And since they spread further, soy inks leave fewer ink containers to dispose of in landfills.

Awareness & Action

Better access to the facts about the environmental impact associated with our choices between print and electronic communications is essential. Both forms of communication play their respective parts in 21st century business communications. We must consider the values of each as well as evaluate their footprint on the environment. But, we need do this fairly and knowledgeably. In a world where decisions based on rhetoric rather than facts can have unintended consequences, writes Don Carli, Senior Research Fellow at The Institute for Sustainable Communications, we can't afford to be swayed by purely emotional appeals, simplistic slogans, half-truths or catchy tag lines.