I see ads all the time for green business cards at sites like Green Printer. What sets them apart?

Their little squares for doing business are printed on 100% recycled paper using soy and veggie zero-VOC inks with chemical-free plate processing and scuff-resistant, non-toxic aqueous coating. Some of the newbies are not even squares at all, but 3×3 disks for “making a unique impression.”

But what kind of impression are we making when we swap paper at a time we’re eschewing the over-foresting of our natural landscapes to produce the pulp, and envisioning a paper-less lifestyle? Perhaps trading information this way isn’t in the cards.

As the senior editor of an environmental blog, it can be awkward to produce a paper card for a new contact, despite the greener alternatives of jotting down my data on a piece of scratch paper or asking Daryl Hannah and Brad Pitt to program my number into their iPhones. I’m down for it, but are they?

Business cards have traditionally been the preferred networking tool of the working world, long before social networking via Facebook and LinkedIn became available. These sites function well for all the uses cards provide: Applying for jobs, hiring for jobs, passing along a name, planning a lunch or golf date, even tossing your name into a hat for winning stuff.

The question remains: Have these habit-forming cards become obsolete in the electronic age? According to TechCrunch, they should die once and for all. It’s just a matter of improving the handset alternative.

Crunch contributor Jason Kincaid finds, “The cell phone market could easily put business cards out of their misery, but instead of conforming to a single standard for contact exchange, handset manufacturers offer proprietary solutions or none at all.”

Examples he cites include apps like Friendbook, an iPhone “handshake”  connector from Tapulous, and rmbrME (“remember me”), a service launched last spring that costs 50 cents every time you wanted to add a new contact. A poor response to the model has led the company’s founder Gabe Zichermann to offer a premium service in the future.

Still, an etiquette column in the Newbury Port News takes the opposing view, arguing traditional cards are not just pieces of paper, but an integral part of doing business that can never be replaced.

To support this claim, columnist Judy Bowman points to the Japanese example. In Japanese, the business card, or “makke,” literally translated means “my face,” and represents one’s life.

“The business card you receive from someone speaks volumes about them and the firm they represent,” Bowman says.

Bowman goes further to describe the elaborate dance of the Japanese business card exchange, apparently as dramatic as the tea ceremony: “Our Japanese friends suggest an almost ritualistic way to present and receive business cards. Present the printed side up with both hands, a thumb and forefinger carefully holding each top corner. Respectfully hand the card forward, almost with a bow-like gesture, as a show of respect. This is the most formal way to present a business card.”

The Japanese – who are among the world’s most enthusiastic users and makers of electronics – are clinging to swapping cards almost as a cultural meme, a meme that shows they value tradition at a time of tremendous advances in global communication. But that doesn’t convince me to have a set engraved any time soon. After all, the Japanese are also still slaughtering whales.

Images: Jeff McNeil, Green Printer, TechCrunch, Japan Print

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Most people will require the services of a commercial printer at some stage in their lives. (Perhaps you need business cards for your new green career!) What questions should you ask in order to make sure you are choosing the best option, not only for you but for the environment, as well?

Does the printer have any certifications in environmental management, such as the ISO 14001 Environmental Management, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) award and the Carbon Trust Standard?

Where is the printer based? Try to avoid “print miles”; don’t outsource to a supplier on the other side of the country.

Do they offer recycled paper? If so, what percentage of the final product is recycled? The quality of recycled paper is just as good for most purposes and has been proven to produce lower carbon emissions over its life cycle than paper from sustainably grown plantation forests. Waste & Resources Action Program, or WRAP, says there are 100% recycled papers suitable for every job, but 50% recycled content should be the minimum for printing paper and 70% for copier and office paper.

If the paper includes non-recycled (or virgin) fiber, is it FSC-certified? This means that it comes from sustainable sources and is not contributing to the destruction of old-growth forests.

Can you get away with printing on a slightly lighter paper stock? If you can print on a 90 gsm, rather than 100 gsm stock, you will use 10% less raw material to make your paper but the difference will not be noticeable. It’s the printing equivalent of turning down your thermostat a couple of degrees.

What sort of inks do they use? Conventional mineral-oil based inks emit harmful volatile organic compounds – nasty toxins, basically – as they dry, and use non-renewable petroleum-based oils. Ideally, you want a printer that uses either vegetable inks or water-based inks. If it’s the former, ask for 100% vegetable inks if possible as some printers will be using 60% vegetable ink mixed with conventional ink. This may mean avoiding fluorescent colors and metallic inks, which are not available as vegetable inks, while metallics usually contain heavy metals that are bad for the environment. The greenest options also reduce environmentally-damaging dry catalysts such as cobalt, but this does mean they dry more slowly than conventional inks.

How does it need to be finished? UV varnishes should be avoided, since they are mineral oil-based, the process is energy intensive and it also disrupts recycling. Aqueous (water-based) coatings can be used instead. Cellulose coatings are an eco-friendly alternative to laminates, which are an environmental no-no because they render the product unrecyclable.

Image: arquera

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