Reduce, reuse, recycle is a phase many people know. The term, recycle is used more often to justify choices by saying, “well, it’s recyclable.” When really, reducing and reusing should come first.
It’s so hard! Making a conscious effort requires a lot of planning and being intentional.
A simple way Swift Printing is trying to eliminate “recycling waste” is to reuse their packaging boxes. Swift already has several customers that bring back their gently used boxes on their own. Now Swift encourages the rest of their customers to do the same.
“The idea is that when we deliver an order or the customer picks up an order – that they would exchange empty boxes for us to reuse.” Said Jes Slaydon, Third Generation at Swift Printing & Communications, Inc.
Swift has a sticker on the box on why they are doing this and it also has a spot for a tally mark to indicate just how many times the box has been reused.
Swift won’t make special stops to pick up the boxes and asks customers to group their errands together if dropping them off. It would be counterproductive to the mission of reduce and reuse if special stops are made just to pick up/drop off the boxes.
Slaydon also notes, it will be exciting to see just how many times the boxes can be reused.
Swift doesn’t want to put pressure on their customers that are not interested, especially if they don’t have the space to save them, but this is just another small step to reduce and reuse in this single-use world we all live in.
Swift is one of only two commercial print shops in the world that is a certified B Corporation. This decision to reuse packaging is right in line with their tenets and BCorp mission. To learn more about Swift and see how much they love their community please visit www.SwiftPrinting.com
