We’re sharing a few of the ways you can print greener with YellowDog in the latest installment of our 20 lists of 20 things in 2024 series!
1. Go with post-consumer waste (recycled) paper. YellowDog has a huge selection of post-consumer waste paper. In fact, all coated paper used at YellowDog is at least 10% post-consumer waste. Ask your account manager for the best options for your project!
2. Use eco-solvent inks & recyclable toners. (That’s all we do!)
3. Opt for 100% paper (for indoor use).
4. Choose recyclable materials. When your printed items need to be durable (outside signage, banners, water bottle stickers, anything that might get wet) you’ll probably need a synthetic alternative like plastic or vinyl. Just remember to recycle it when you’re done!
5. Bring us your hard-to-recycle print products. If we print it, we will take it back to recycle it!
6. Choose Falcon Board over corrugated plastic. The thickest of our paper-based board options, Falcon Board (also known as Eagle Cell) has a unique honeycomb core that is durable, reusable and recyclable.
7. Think evergreen. Focus on your brand and timeless messages, especially on durable signage that’s made to last.
8. Reuse! A well-made sign, flyer, sticker or banner can serve you for years to come.
9. Only print what you need. Because YellowDog prints digitally and on-demand, you don’t need to print massive quantities at any one time. And because we can turn reprints around quickly, you can always re-up if you run out of collateral.
10. Put quality first. When you print with an online-only vendor, you pretty much upload your art into the void and cross your fingers. When you print with YellowDog, there’s an account manager, pre-press specialist and production manager looking at your art before it goes to print. We’ll make sure you’ve got the size, resolution, bleed and margins right. We won’t just print hundreds of copies of blurry art. Less crappy printing -> less waste!
11. Enjoy our repurposed label stock. When we realized we had a whole mess of extra labels, we got creative and made low-impact stickers to entertain our logistics manager and delight everyone who receives a shipment from YellowDog.
12. Ask us about Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified paper. FSC-certified paper products meet the world’s most stringent environmental, ethical and economic sourcing standards, and it’s always an option at YellowDog!
13. Print locally. If you’re in Denver, printing at YellowDog means lower shipping mileage and fewer emissions.
14. Think multipurpose. How can you use that banner, sign or handout beyond a single event?
15. Know that nothing goes to waste! Overprinted notepads are put to work around the office. Misprinted postcards become bookmarks and doodle sheets. Excess paper becomes recycled notebooks.
16. Reuse packaging. We pack orders in the boxes our paper comes in. You can keep it going by using that box yourself (for storage, shipping, transportation, cat hotel… whatever your heart desires).
17. Hold onto your packing material! We use paper backing from large format materials (like vinyl) to keep your projects nice and cozy in their recycled boxes. You can do the same! Use the packing material you receive with your order to protect your breakables (or as desk decorations to prank your work bestie).
18. Make the most out of every project. YellowDog figures out which sheet size will give you the most up (graphic units/sheet) so you always get the most out of whatever stock you are using.
19. Reuse retractable banner hardware. When it’s time to refresh your retractable banner graphics, we will pull out the guts of your old banner, recycle them and install the newly printed banner in the same hardware.
20. Choose ink-saver mode. For everyday office printing, select “save ink/toner” before printing. Save the heavy ink for when it really matters! Bonus points for printing double-sided.
Bonus ways YellowDog lowers our impact
So that when you print with YellowDog, you’re printing greener already!
- Carbon offsets!
- We recycle our hard-to-recycle waste with Ridwell.
- Dan drives a Rivian!
- We don’t let food go to waste. If it’s edible, it’ll be eaten.
- Canine compost! The dogs will take care of any scraps that hit the floor (or the trash). We don’t even have to use electricity for the vacuum.
- Baloo is our internal shredder.
- We use stock clippings to make the little accordion in every business card box.
- Yard sign recycling!
Read up on all the ways we lighten our pawprint.
by YellowDog.