Lessons learnt

The printers that we used were not really accustomed to dealing with an organisation that wanted to know about the exact environmental impact of their product. This lead to quite a lot of too-ing and fro-ing, as we struggled to find an option that was both affordable and sustainable. The main lessons that we learnt from this were:

1) Think through all the options and questions that we have re materials before we contact the print company, so that we can be clear about what we are asking for from the start (don't forget to specify recycled as it isn't always listed as an option).

2) Request a quote which gives the price breakdown of each element from the outset (e.g. cost per unit of insert if it is recycled, cost per unit of insert if it is FSC, cost per unit of card if it is recycled and so on.)- as otherwise you get an overall unit cost, and a more detailed breakdown is very useful for the decision making process.

3) Look to see if there is a 'green' print company who, as part of their own aims, would advise us on the best options environmentally speaking (for printing things in the future that aren't using a patented template that is!).

4) Try not to use a template that is patented as this would give us more choice - having said that everyone loves this calendar and it has lasted in my pocket for 3 months so far!