STONE ME could this be the promotional bag of the future?
STONE ME could this be the promotional bag of the future?
(NewDesignWorld Press Release Center) -- September 30th, 2008, Kidderminster, UK --
Qtable launches new tree free promotional paper bags which are better quality, longer lasting and greener than traditional paper bags.
“Promotional merchandising companies still remain slow to move with the changing needs of the market, with many continuing to offer what they believe to be the best promotional products for their customers, when really it is more convenient for the supplier. Qtable is changing all that; we are putting in the effort to find what is new and needed by our customers. Our computer does not say NO and that is why we are launching yet another innovative promotional product” says Nic Windley, Partner at Qtable Gifts and Merchandise.
(http://www.giftsandmerchandise.co.uk/pr/September2008/StonePaperPromoBag)
With so many products now an important and functional part of our lives it is sometimes difficult to truly be environmentally friendly when choosing products when many of the ones we rely on are made from scarce resources or produced using unfriendly processes.
So with some of these resources in more abundance than others and seemingly less important to the environmental cycle it would make sense to use these plentiful, and less important materials for other purposes, but in many cases it is like trying to make wine out of water.
Bags are made from important resources.
One such resource is paper, which comes from our earth friend the tree.
According to Friends of the Earth in their article on paper and pulp manufacturing, the UK is currently the 14th largest per capita consumer of paper and board products in the world.
I was equally surprised when I read that the UK is the third largest in the world importer of illegal timber in a report by the World Wildlife Foundation as reported by the BBC in their article titled UK criticised over illegal timber.
Savatree.com says that trees have furnished us with two essentials in life, food and oxygen. As we evolve, they provided additional necessities such as shelter, medicine, and tools. Today, their value continues to increase and more benefits from trees are being discovered as their role expands to satisfy the needs created by our modern lifestyles.
Most of the largest tree regions are habitats in themselves, with each tree photosynthesising to produce oxygen and food for other organisms. They also provide nesting sites, recycle nutrients from the soil, shield the soil from erosion by wind and water, and shade the soil from the heat of the sun helping to moderate the temperature of the soil under the trees as well as providing raw materials for industry from lumber to resins for plastics.
So, if we continue to consume them at the rate we are, then we are going to lose an essential resource. Alternative resources must be found.
Processing paper has negative environmental impact.
Indeed, it is generally thought that no industry has forced more species into extinction, destroyed more natural habitats, and polluted as many streams, rivers, and lakes than the traditional pulp and paper industry.
It’s estimated that producing one ton of paper from virgin wood fibres requires 2 to 3.5 tons of trees. Although about 30% of the wood pulp supply in the world now comes from tree farms, by and large forest-harvested timber still dominates supply.
Chipping, grinding, whitening, rinsing, and separating the useful fibres requires water, energy, and chemicals which generates air, water, and solid waste pollutants as by-products.
So, as well as the natural resource being important to our environment, there is another impact on the environment caused by processing paper, which is a very uneconomical process.
What this equates too can be hard to determine as some parts of the process can be made self sufficient to some degree and depending on the type of paper being processed it will also affect the outcome, but in general it can be as high as 20 trees, 42lbs of water borne waste, 10000 gallons of water, 167lbs of solid waste, 236lbs of atmospheric emissions and 36,000 BTUs of energy for just 1 ton of traditional virgin pulp, all of which could be avoided.
Alternatives such as using recycled pulp can help to reduce the number of trees consumed by as much as 80%, but achieves between a 40% and 50% reduction in energy and water. The downside it it actually produces far more waste.
Stone, a paper free promotional alternative?
Many proposed alternatives are neither practical nor do they improve the finished product. Most also fall short of being able to reduce the cost of manufacture or the environmental impact of production.
And that’s exactly what I thought when somebody mentioned the words stone and bag, but my disbelief was soon quelled when I was shown a new process that literally turned stone into a bag.
At first I had images of small pebbles being stuck together to make up a rather hard wearing if not heavy, bag, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw a product that looked and felt just like paper.
Now those of you who are more environmentally aware might be thinking well OK, that is great but if it takes more energy to produce or uses toxins or other chemical agents we haven’t gained anything right.
Processing stone IS more environmentally friendly.
Well you'll be pleased to hear that this new manufacturing process actually consumes less energy and is cheaper to produce than traditional paper. Not only that, but there are no toxic agents or bleaching chemicals used during the manufacturing process. Both water and energy consumption is reduced by 50%, All of which present a real blow to the pulp and paper industry, but a boon for the environment.
But what about the quality of the material you may ask, how does it compare to paper. Well the answer to this just blew me away. Not only is this material cheaper and more environmentally friendly to produce it produces a much better material also.
Stone paper is ALSO a better product.
Its harder wearing as it repels water and grease and is resistant to tearing and scuffing. Because there is no grain like that found in pulp based paper the surface is smoother resulting in high resolution images with greater colour vibrancy.
This makes stone paper an ideal material for producing low cost, high impact and longer life bags.
Stone paper bags are supplied for many purposes such as promotional bags for event or exhibitions. Qtable is a full service gift and merchandise company in the UK working to deliver effective methods of winning new customers and selling more to existing customers using physical products.
"Established companies such as 4imprint have been in this market for some time now so its time for something new." says Nic Windley, Partner at Qtable Gifts and Merchandise
Biography
Since graduating from University with a degree in Engineering, I have held numerous sales and marketing posts with both small and large organisation selling a broad range of products and services over a progressively successful career.
Finally, 4 years ago I decided to go self employed and experienced a mix of failure and success but continued to tap into my experiences of selling and marketing to help my businesses progress.
With the constant growth in media channels available for reaching customers and continued increases in competition the need to clearly stand out in a crowded market place was evident.
I established a consultancy business helping small to medium sized businesses to develop successful strategies for growth using a unique system developed over 10 years which are equally needed in the corporate sector.
This led me into a number of projects that required promotional items to be used as part of a marketing campaign, but it remained difficult to find interesting twists on proven successful themes.
Another business called Qtable was launched to provide both new and proven products that could be used to help businesses stand out and remain in the conscious of their key audiences.
Qtable continues to search and develop new and proven products combined with the needs of the market and new economic and environmental pressures on these products.
Questions
Q) "How is stone paper made."
A) "Stone paper is made with a clean production process which does not utilise water or emit toxic air and is free of bleach, acid, or other chemicals."
Q) "Why is it important to the marketing industry."
A) "Many physical promotional products are made and printed on paper such as bags, post cards, flyers, brochures and business cards and continue to be printed on paper. It is also used in the packaging and decoration of many products."
Q) "Do physical promotional items still have a place in this technology led world of marketing."
A) "Absolutely, remaining in the conscious of your key audiences for the right reasons still remains the main goal of marketing campaigns."
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
Nicholas Windley BEng (Hons)
0845 388 5065 – info@qtable.com
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This is great! For stone paper/rock paper bags in the USA or for stone paper labels, tags, catalogs, maps, etc... you can talk to Natural Source Printing (www.naturalsourceprinting.com) (866)551-4NSP
Interesting. If 30% of the world's pulp supply comes from tree farms as you say, doesn't most of the rest of it come from recycled fiber? In the US, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists (April, 1999) virtually all of the pulp used from paper comes from tree farms or recycled fiber. Is this not the case in the UK? Most of the trees cut down in the world go for fuel to "cook dinner" according to the FSC.
joharrison - you are trying to compare a world statistic with a US statistic and now a UK statistic. I'm sorry but the paper pulp industry is FAR bigger in the US than in the UK (UK imports a lot) and there are huge differences across the globe.
Here are some more statistics and their sources.
Today, 90 per cent of paper pulp is made of wood. Paper manufacture is estimated to account for nearly 13 per cent of total wood use, and represents one per cent of the world's total economic output [Source: International Institute for Environment and Development, The Sustainable Paper Cycle, draft report for the Business Council on Sustainable Development, IIED, London, 1995; Ayres, E.; "Making Paper without Trees", WorldWatch, September/October 1993, pp.5-8; Durning, A. T. and Ayres, E.; "The Story of a Newspaper", WorldWatch, November/December 1994, pp.30-32; Wright, R., personal communication]
This would completely disagree with your statement that "virtually all of the pulp used from paper comes from tree farms or recycled fiber"
Not only that but in an article by the Union of Concerned Scientists http://www.ucsusa.org/publications/greentips/is-recycled-paper-in-trouble.html they actually agree with the statistics above and I believe my general view.
In this article I tried to take a balanced view of various sources and statistics that that would give me some numbers that were fair and not totally biased to one view or another, which can be pretty difficult to do.