This is the inside of a business envelope I received from a local business. I admire the company's enthusiasm for recycling but can't help but wonder whether their strategy is effective.
Are there people who normally do not recycle, but then change their lifestyle after encountering this on the inside of an envelope? I wonder about the amount of ink expended to create these messages, and whether that material is deleterious if the envelope eventually does get pulped. Plus, covering the paper with text prevents its reuse for grocery lists and scratch paper, which is one way other envelopes get recycled in our house.
Or maybe I'm just grumpy this morning.
Many business envelopes have meaningless text on the inside anyways: look for 'tinted envelope'.
ReplyDeleteThis. My mother used envelopes like this for a long time. Rather than text, it was a meaningless blue grid of triangles (if I recall correctly), the intent being to make it hard to read the contents of a letter by holding the envelope up to light. I imagine that it occurred to them that a reminder to recycle would be just as effective as random geometry.
DeleteI agree with all your points about the usefulness. The little cynic in my head says the sender or manufacturer received some kind of monetary or social incentive for "green" practices. However, I see many envelopes use printing on the inside to mask the contents for security reasons. If that is the case here, I guess there's no harm in the message.
ReplyDelete"to mask the contents for security reasons"
Deletegood thought.
It's a security envelope. I buy them for my business all the time. It's to make it more difficult to just hold up to a bright light and get all the info.
DeleteThis was just a convenient message to use as a interference pattern.
A environmental consultant once told me about a study done on the most effective way to get people to save energy in their homes (it would translate to recycling as well). Tell them it will save them money? Doesn't work. Tell them it will help the environment? Doesn't help. The only thing that worked was telling them their neighbors had cut their energy bills by 20%. Apparently humans are most motivated by wanting to outdo each other.
ReplyDeleteOr by shame. "Keeping up with the Jones's" in the 50s and 60s wasn't about outdoing one's neighbors, it was about not being outdone (shamed) by them.
Delete