Many of us make a conscious effort to practice environmental responsibility. We haul old newspapers to local recycling centers. We use ink refi ll kits instead of buying new cartridges for our printers. And who doesn’t have at least one blue recycling bin wedged underneath the desk?

But is this enough? Noah Scalin, founder of ALR Design doesn’t think so. “Social consciousness isn’t just about making good paper and ink choices,” he says. “A lot more of it has to do with how work is produced.” For designers, this means keeping the environment in mind when planning projects. The following guide to “more green” offers 12 ways to incorporate environmental awareness into your work.

1. Learn the lingo.
You’ll need to be familiar with industry jargon to appropriately select environmentally friendly papers. Here are a few terms you’ll often see:

• Virgin fiber—100-percent “pure” fiber from an original source
• Post-consumer content—Waste recovered from consumers and recycled
• VOCs—Volatile organic compounds (such as occur in petroleum-based printing ink)
• PCF—Processed chlorine-free
• TCF—Totally chlorine-free
• ECF—Elemental chlorine-free

2. Preserve and conserve.
The Recycled Products Cooperative estimates that over 100 million trees are cut each year to supply fiber for writing and printing papers in the United States. This is not only detrimental to forests, but to air quality and water reserves as well.

One way to preserve resources is to purchase recycled paper with high levels of post-consumer content. Using recycled paper saves landfill space and minimizes water and energy consumption. Check recycling symbols to see what percentage of recycled fiber was used during the manufacturing process.

3. Think about ink.
Do you know how your printer disposes of unused ink? If you’re unsure, ask. Petroleum-based inks leach VOCs—which cause cancer and birth defects—into the soil when printed papers end up in landfills. These toxins can also be released into the air as fresh inks dry.

Soy ink is an excellent alternative to petroleumbased inks. Soy ink uses soybean oil that’s naturally low in VOCs. This smart substitute is sustainable, efficient, and cost-competitive. Many newspapers, magazines (including this one), and other materials are now printed with soy ink.

4. Do it digitally.
Greg Barber www.gregbarberco.com, an environmentally oriented paper and printing specialist, also recommends digital printing for economic reasons: Digital is ideal for short-run, four-color work for business cards, stationery, promotional pieces, and most print work that is less than 1,000 sheets of 14 x 20 inches.

This printing method even has advantages over soy inks. While soy is comprised of 86-percent oil—which isn’t biodegradable—digital printing uses 100-percent nontoxic toner. Toner-based inks also produce less chemical waste.

5. Consider alternative papers.
Move over, pulp-based paper. A number of alternatives to traditional papers are now available, and Barber recommends several “tree-free” varieties, such as Denim Blues (100-percent reclaimed blue jean cotton), and synthetic papers by Yupo because of their environmental attributes and durability.

For certain projects, Barber suggests papers made from Kenaf and hemp, and a newer paper called TerraSkin, which is made from ground stone. “TerraSkin is almost as strong as [synthetic] FedEx envelopes and it prints like a coated sheet,” he says. It also uses less ink, and is nontoxic and waterproof.

6. Choose better bleaching solutions.
Brighter, whiter papers are created by various bleaching processes. It’s a good idea to have a basic understanding of how manufacturers process their products so that you can select the best, most environmentally friendly papers for your projects.

Elemental chlorine was once extensively used to brighten paper products, but now chlorine dioxide (used in swimming pools) is a common substitute. This process yields ECF papers. Although chlorine compounds are safer than pure chlorine, some pollution still results. Better choices include PCF and TCF bleaching, which substitute oxygen-based compounds for chlorine compounds. Only the recycled portion of a recycled sheet has been bleached with PCF. Fewer TCF papers are available today because most papers contain some recycled content—TCF relates only to 100-percent virgin papers.

Only products deemed acceptable by the Chlorine Free Products Association are granted PCF and TCF emblems. Look for the symbols when purchasing recycled paper.