Your choice to purchase our forest-friendly paper goods has a huge impact every year. Since day one, we have used exclusively 100% recycled paper in our notebooks, and while this choice has come with its challenges, it has also brought some pretty epic rewards. Here are some stats for 2021 alone:

In 2021, your choice to use our eco-friendly 100% recycled notebooks saved 15.2 acres of forest – that's over 600 old-growth trees! The benefits don't stop there, you also helped save enough energy to power 13 average family homes for a year (incidentally it was also enough to power the homes of all of our employees PLUS our warehouse and offices).

Recycling paper uses less water than processing virgin trees, and last year you saved enough water to fill 23 backyard swimming pools. Perhaps coolest of all, you saved enough fuel to drive a Prius to the moon and back AND a semi-truck all the way around the planet.  

Sourcing 100% recycled paper, especially during a pandemic, is way harder than getting regular virgin pulp paper. Here's why!

1. Recycled paper – especially high-quality paper from a certified supply chain – is a lot more expensive than virgin pulp paper. Some of this is because the demand for recycled paper is lower, so the recycled paper is made in smaller, more expensive batches than the virgin alternative. Every time you make the choice to buy something made with recycled materials rather than brand new materials, you help increase the demand for the more sustainable recycled products to be made. Some of the cost also comes from the fact that the supply chain has to be audited and monitored at every step to ensure the recycled pulp isn't being cut with fresh trees. Since the recycled paper costs a lot more, without a securely audited supply chain, it would be far too easy for virgin paper to be passed off as recycled. This is why we make sure to use paper from a reputable, certified company.
2. The supply chain is a lot less stable. Since there is less demand, there are fewer suppliers, and with fewer options available, sometimes the paper can be hard to come by. We often have to place our order and then wait a long time for the paper to come available. During the beginning of the pandemic, we had to wait a full 9 months between paying the deposit and receiving the paper from the mill to begin notebook production.
3. Even the highest-quality recycled paper stock experiences some variation batch to batch (and in some cases, from one page to the next). We know, it's not quite as ideal for wide-nibbed fountain pens or wet mediums, but we just can't justify cutting down a forest to make paper. We've found some of the highest-quality fully-recycled paper available on the market. It feels great to write on, plus you can feel good knowing that your notebook leaves a light footprint.

By choosing a 100% recycled paper notebook, you increase demand for better, cleaner paper and you keep trees in the ground where they belong. Some companies say that they'll plant a tree – or several – in exchange for your purchase of something made with virgin materials, and while reforestation efforts are necessary to reverse the damage that has already been done, a sapling isn't the same as a fully grown, old-growth tree. The natural biodiversity found in old-growth forests is never matched by managed forests planted to be harvested, and that biodiversity is crucial for keeping the natural world in balance.