This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of ProformaGreen, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy. John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.
A number of manufacturers are working on natural (non-dyed) paper impregnated with seeds. The idea is that if you plant items made of these papers flowers or trees will grow.
Bloomin’ Promotions and Seed Cards are two manufactures doing this type of thing.
I really don’t know what to make of this idea.
If properly used I am sure they would be a great learning tool, perhaps in an educational setting – write a letter to the planet, plant the letter in the school yard and see it live – that type of thing.
Proforma Green actually offers a line of holiday cards made from this material and I guess I like that idea as well since a number of holidays tie into the ideas of new life and rebirth.
But we have seen vendors making take-away boxes out of this material and full size shipping packaging. I don’t see that paper going anywhere but the landfill.
And while I am all for flowers at the landfill what is the message? How is that not greenwashing, just making something green for the heck of it?
I would be interested in other opinions. I really am of two minds on the subject.
Adventures in Green Marketing 
Looks cradle to cradle from recycled materials – good to go!
I don’t think that it is just the material but whether the idea will motivate someone to do the right thing. Would I plant the paper? Probably – especially if someone dear to me gave me the paper. If one of my kids gave me something with this packaging I think I would just so we could watch the flowers grow together. My questions are more about whether the seeds would come up.
Jenny
Am a manufacturer of consumer product and am interested in using such fiberboard in packaging for new product. I consider it exceptionally green and nowhere near green-washing. It has the potential to create a carbon-negative packaging. Nothing I know of on the market does that!
If you know of anybody with a commercial seed-impregnated paper please contact me.