Sustainable promotional pens and eco friendly promotional pencils are certainly a good place to start for businesses intent on ‘green washing’ their credentials with customers. However, looking beyond the view of the sceptics, how does sustainable promotional pens actually deliver value, not only for a business but also for the environment?
A business investing time and money in developing an eco-strategy may see positive results in terms of improvements in data sets around brand perception and awareness, however, this only becomes meaningful to people outside of Brands Marketing team when the results are translated to the bottom line. Very few awareness formation models take into account competitor activity, therefore any organisation embarking on a ‘green washing’ programme should also be mindful that the timing of delivery is absolutely critical to success, if your competitors are also focused on driving green agendas then your message will be diluted.
Consumers are also acutely aware of the difference between a business that is genuinely concerned with adopting a green approach and those that are simply playing the green game. So rather than focus on communicating the fact that every employee in your company drives a Hybrid Electric car and you are therefore a green company, it makes more sense to look at the smaller changes that can make more of an impression with your customers. Why not start with using sustainable promotional pens?
The Envirostick Ball Pen is made from an innovative material called Ecoallene™, a material derived from the recycling of post consumer Tetra Pak™ cartons; the result is a material with very similar properties to traditional plastics. Ecoallene™ has some very hard hitting credentials that cannot be argued with, a number of major high street retailers, fashion brands and super market chains have already realised the potential of Ecoallene™. The process involved in making Ecoallene™ takes the aluminium and polyethylene from discarded Tetra Pak cartons to produce a granulated material, this is then used in the same way as a traditional plastics. However, it’s the impact the positive impact this material has on sustainability that makes it so unique. Here are the facts from study undertaken in Italy:
- In 2008 800millionbeverage cartons were recovered for recycling
- 1 ton of Tetra Pak Cartons transformed into Ecoallene will avoid 900KG of green house gas emissions
- Processing 1 ton into Ecoallene will save 3 cubic meters of waste that would previously have been incinerated or sent to landfill sites
The most appealing aspect of this material has to be the impact it is having on sustainability, as awareness and popularity of the material increases the real winner will be the environment. At prices from 7.2p including a one colour print we must revise our views that being green is going to cost the earth.
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