Printing with a Purpose
36 Years of Eco-Friendly Printing & Innovation
Eco Friendly Printer, whose main office is in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL, and plants are in Jacksonville, NJ, and NY, is celebrating its 36th Environmental Anniversary.
My name is Greg Barber, and I started EFP when I saw middle school students on Long Island celebrating the 20th anniversary of Earth Day in 1990. I was hooked by their enthusiasm for saving our planet.
In 1990, I also noted that the Fresh Kills Landfill in Staten Island, NY, was closed because its garbage reached 10 stories high, posing a danger to planes descending toward Newark Airport.
On TV, I saw Connie Chung state that 60% of the overcrowded landfills were due to paper and printed waste.
I felt I could help this situation by promoting 100% Post-Consumer Waste Recycled Printing.
100% PCW is paper made from previous printing and bleached with oxygen or hydrogen peroxide — not chlorine. This keeps previously used paper from being landfilled, and the bleaching process is chlorine-free. Chlorine bleaching can create dioxins, a deadly chemical that can poison fish, wildlife, and us.
So I decided to become an environmental printer and showcase 100% PCW paper.
100% PCW paper is completely made from previously printed paper. The Environmental Protection Bureau mandates that paper labeled as recycled must contain at least 30% Post-Consumer Waste.
My friends kidded me, asking why I was focusing on middle school students since they couldn’t buy my printing. I said one day they would be able to buy printing, and I am spreading the seeds of information about why 100% PCW printing is good for our planet.
So, I am now in my 36th year promoting eco-friendly printing, and my firm’s name is appropriate: Eco Friendly Printer.
Today, we feature printing for large events at trade shows, hotel conventions, weddings, boat shows in Miami, and we ship nationwide.
Event planners can verify our quality and speed. Many planners give us eight events each year. We print name badges, posters, banners, stickers, table covers, tent cards, brochures, flyers, and more.
In Ponte Vedra Beach, we deliver to the Marriott Convention Center and TPC Sawgrass Golf Course for their events and weddings.
I created a Thank You Coaster Card that is becoming very popular. After spending over $100,000 at local wedding venues, couples can convert 40 wedding pictures into 40 coasters (3.5" diameter) and personalize each backside with a “Thank You for Attending” note. We then insert these 40 coasters into our 3.75" tin canisters, creating a coffee table gift that will last as long as a wedding album.
Many wedding albums may never be looked at years later, but our canisters remain where they are placed.
For less expensive weddings, we can take iPhone pictures and create our Thank You Coasters. Bridesmaids and groomsmen can send us their pictures, and my design team can select the 40 best images.
We can meet locally or schedule a Zoom call.
For the Chapel at Sawgrass Country Club, we recently printed their new song books. My design team set up 88 pages of new hymns and accommodated many changes. The cover is printed in four colors, and film is added to the front cover to protect against damage from spilled coffee, etc.
My blog post about our Thank You Wedding Coasters is worth reading. Take a look at this article at:
www.ecofriendlyprinter.com/blog
www.ecofriendlyprinter.com/blog
I meet people at our local diners and coffee shops. Breakfast is on me.