Imagine greetings cards and stationery that do not harm trees and actually help the environment; this was the inspiration for a team of print industry professionals (and friends) to create The Seed Card Company during lockdown.

Launched this month, The Seed Card Company offers a range of eco-friendly greetings cards, personal stationery and wedding suites. Everything is made from post-consumer waste embedded with wildflowers or recycled pre-and post-consumer eco-friendly board. It also uses vegan inks.

 

 

For every card or stationery suite purchase, The Seed Card Company and global reforestation effort Ecologi will plant a tree.

The Seed Card Company was set up by Lewis Stevenson of Leeming Brothers Fine Stationery and Kay and Jit Patel of luxury wedding and event stationery company Intricate Creations. All three are directors and share a love for print and a desire to support a more sustainable and eco-friendlier environment. They also share the responsibilities of running the business, with all design and production taking place in-house.

Lewis Stevenson says; “In 2019, the greetings card industry was worth £1.7 billion, not including online retailers and sales. With the events of 2020 and the continuing lockdown, people have been sending more greetings cards than before.

“The eco-friendly arm of the stationery industry is gaining traction at an unprecedented rate. With programmes such as Blue Planet II making manufacturers and consumers more aware of the huge environmental problem plastic and non-sustainable products are having on our ecosystem and the health of the planet, we created The Seed Card Company to offer a genuinely sustainable and eco-friendly greetings card alternative.”

 

 

The Seed Card Company’s cards are made entirely from post-consumer upcycled paper waste; meaning no harm to trees.

They are also recyclable, biodegradable and embedded with a mixture of six wildflower seed types including Bird’s Eye, Clarkia, Black Eyed Susan, Catchfly, Snapdragon and Sweet Alyssum.

Six wedding suite collections, a range of thank you cards and notecard sets, and seven greetings card collections will be available upon launch. This includes a fun collection of plant pot personalities.

All of the Plant Pot people, including company mascot and environmental extraordinaire Trevor, are hand-illustrated and hand-painted. His character, family and friends will feature via regular blogs on the website and social posts.

 

 

Cards are either laser-cut or printed using vegan inks.

As a plastic-free and zero-waste business, the printers do not use ink cartridges. Plus, the company reuses any card sheet off-cuts as another piece of stationery, donates them to schools, or plants them. Any non-seed stationery items use a 100% pre-and post-consumer recycled eco-friendly board. This is completely chlorine and acid-free and carries the ‘Blue Label’ certification.

Envelopes are made entirely from post-consumer waste and use a natural starch-based adhesive. Stickers use sugarcane and hemp and tissue paper is 100% recycled and not bleached. The boxes and mailers to post orders out in are recycled and recyclable too.

By working with tree-planting and climate action funder Ecologi, the ‘one card for one tree’ scheme offsets any delivery carbon. It also rebuilds natural habitats and creates jobs for local families who plant and maintain new forests. Customers will also be able to view The Seed Card Company’s forest and the changes it is making to local communities and the whole planet.

Click here for further information.