The greetings industry, while one built upon the sentiments of human connection and interaction as well as reliance upon the regeneration of the natural capital (the forests from which its FSC-certified paper and card is sourced) that forms its foundations, has long had to grapple with the stigma of single-use.
As a business model, greetings traditionally finds single use throughout its value chain: whether that’s in the envelopes its cards are sent in, the packaging in which they arrive or are displayed, or in the cards themselves – displayed until disposed of in the home recycling.
In each iteration of the conversation, forward-thinking and sustainable-minded business pioneers have dreamed various solutions – from plantable cards with which customers can grow things like wildflowers to help replenish the UK biodiversity landscape, to cards that arrive with their own wrap-around enveloping feature, eliminating the need for separate envelopes and thus designing out the issue of waste often attached to it.
Meanwhile, of course, the development of a recycling infrastructure for greetings cards is one being perpetuated across an industry that – on the whole – is mindful towards the natural resources upon which it depends.
The UK, family-oriented start-up, Greentings, however, has since burst onto the scene to push for a whole new direction of travel for the UK greetings card industry, leaving its stamp on the reuse market.
A collection of reusable cards that each arrive with three removable inserts and three envelopes, Greentings cards carry a simple message – to perpetuate a reuse economy by engaging and encouraging recipients and senders to document their part in the journey of the product.
The concept is a simple one: The recipient is encouraged to pass the card along by using the removable insert to write their own message and send. The next recipient is, in turn, encouraged to repeat the process – using the removable inserts to write their own message and ‘regifting’ the card. It’s a simple structure but one that has potential to drive a whole new reuse economy for what has traditionally been a single-use item.
“To us, reusing cards seemed inevitable in a world where reusable items are becoming commonplace,” Kerry Linacre, founder of Greentings tells Products of Change. “At one point, people wouldn’t dream of reusing a gift bag, but in today’s world it would feel perverse not to.”
Each card, insert, and envelope is made from fully recycled post-consumer waste paper. They arrive free of such adornments as rhinestones, ribbons, or glitter which act only to mess the entire recycling process up but come with the simple message of regifting.
And, to better encourage recipients to take part in the reusing and regifting process, Greentings has created a tracking system by which senders and recipients can trace the historical journey their card has made from the original sender to whoever’s hands it may end up in.
“The digital tracking feature automatically saves a digital version of the card so the customer has a memory to cherish long after the physical card has been sent on,” explains Kerry. “The tracking feature means customers can then log into their Greentings account to see the journey of their card. The idea is to encourage the reusability of these cards – the last thing we want is them sitting in drawers in people’s homes.”
The concept has, to date, best resonated in lifestyle stores and ethical shops with refillable stations. This is where Greentings has the highest success rate of landing its target audience of “customers who get the idea quickly and like the fun of it.”
“We do find customers need to think about who they are sending the cards to, to ensure it’s someone who will appreciate the concept,” says Kerry.
This is one of a handful of factors Kerry and the team are having to navigate. Securing shelf space with national retailers is another. In these cases, Greentings is rolling out a range of cards that are not reusable but are made from post-consumer waste.
“Getting known in the bigger retailers is our biggest hurdle as the reusable concept doesn’t currently lend itself wall to places like supermarkets as our cards are quite specialist,” says Kerry. “Therefore, we’re working on a range of eco-alternative greetings cards which are more suited to larger retailers.
“We hope this will help build up those larger retailer relationships so we can start to positively influence their greetings card purchasing choices. We’ll also be continuing to expand our reach in ethical stores across the country.”
And how has an industry built on the foundations of single-use reacted to the introduction of a reusable collection? Well, surprisingly very well.
“We have had a couple of more traditional card shops state they think the reusable cards will prevent people buying as many cards from their stores, but honestly these comments have been rare,” says Kerry.
“We don’t believe this will be an issue in any event because the idea is that the cards are used at least three times (with removable insert packs available to purchase separately) by three different customers. The likelihood is those customers will be in different locations.
“We aren’t expecting our cards to replace traditional greeting cards , they are just an eco option and retailers are normally happy to ensure their customers get a wide range of choice.”
