Eco-Friendly Practices at Clo Mor Press

Printing is generally a non-friendly process for the environment but we, at Clo Mor Press, want to do our part personally and professionally to take care of it. We make a serious effort to reduce our impact. Below are some of our current environmental practices.

Power: We are about 90% solar powered and are very conscientious about the power we do use ... making sure to turn off lights, machines when not in use and by replacing our incandescent bulbs with low watt fluorescent bulbs throughout our business and household.

Paper: All of our business papers are recycled papers that are processed chlorine free (at least 30% post-consumer waste but most are made with 100% post-consumer waste). Most of the papers that we print with are made with 100% cotton fibers or at least 30% post-consumer waste and are chlorine or elemental chlorine free. In addition to being tree-free, cotton papers are made from discarded cotton fibers from the textile industry. In other words, they are made from an agricultural by-product and do not increase the amount of land under cultivation for cotton. Additionally, many of the mills that manufacture our papers are environmentally certified (ISO 14001), use alternative energies and are FSC certified.

Recycle & Reuse: We reuse or recycle all packaging materials that we receive. And, we recycle or reuse all our paper scraps/waste. While we would love to send your orders in beautiful boxes with luxurious tissues, we can't in good conscience justify the waste. Orders arrive either in the envelope boxes the paper arrived in or carefully wrapped with recycled kraft paper and tied with hemp string. These are then expertly packed into reused boxes with reused packing materials that we receive from our paper orders or in recycled corrugate boxes with recycled packing material.

Solvent: We use low Volatile Organic Compound (low VOC) solutions to clean our presses and thereby reduce the emissions from our solvents.

Ink: Our inks are plant/rubber-based and also have low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). We use very little ink, no more than a few pounds a year. A typical wedding invitation order uses only about one teaspoon to one tablespoon of ink. Paper is also still recyclable when printed with our inks.

Plates: The company that makes our plates is carbon neutral through their extensive environmental practices and by partnering with the Conservation Fund's Go Zero plan. They have also recently launched the first recycling program for photopolymer plates so we are now able to recycle old plates.

Paperless Practices: We send our invoices electronically and our faxes come to us digitally. About 95% of all our business correspondence and proofing is done electronically via email.

The Owners: The environment is something that we are highly conscious of both in our personal and professional lives. Clo Mor Press is vegan-owned and operated. Apart from the health benefits of a plant-based diet, the environmental benefits are significant given that animal agriculture generates more global warming greenhouse gases than transportation and is a major source of land and water degradation (according to a recent U.N. study). We also make every effort to buy organic produce and to support local, sustainable farmers.