Sustainable papers and recycled papers have long since ceased to be niche products and are firmly established in our range, as well as among customers and creative professionals. They are used in a wide variety of fields, from analogue DIY to digital printing. We encounter them in business stationery, external business communication, wedding stationery, advertising, marketing and packaging design.

There are various approaches to creating an ecological advantage in the production of sustainable papers. They range from environmentally friendly production processes and the reuse of waste paper to the use of alternative raw materials. These endeavours are documented by various certifications and seals.

Read more: 7 sustainable papers – environmentally friendly and versatile

In this blog post, we focus on seven specific papers and show you some applications in which they particularly shine.

Crush – fine paper in 7 delicate colours using natural raw materials

The secret of the ravishingly beautiful appearance of all the colours in the Crush range lies in their special ingredients: citrus fruits, kiwis, grapes, almonds, cocoa etc. are not only the raw material, but also the inspiration and reference for the natural colour nuances of the Italian fine paper. The production of the fine paper Crush is based on a rather unconventional approach. This unique sustainable paper consists of 15% organic waste from the food industry. For even more sustainability, 40% recycled paper is used and the CO2-neutral production is carried out using 100% green energy.

Crush is a wonderful paper for design projects. It is particularly popular for wedding stationery. No surprise, because Crush’s great colour palette offers many possibilities to implement different wedding style trends and colour concepts in stationery. Crush is also a paper favourite of artists and creatives in other areas of design.

We come across Crush papers, cards and envelopes time and time again in workshops and on social media. They are used to create numerous DIY Cards for a wide variety of occasions. The cardboard qualities are often used for plotting. If you fancy more (visual) inspiration for Crush, then click through our Crush Pinterest board.

DCP Green – 100 % green, but bright white

DCP Green is a premium printing paper produced by Clairefontaine in France in compliance with the highest environmental standards. It is made from 100% recycled material and is certified as FSC® Recycled quality. It also bears the EU Ecolabel and the German ‘Blue Angel’ (‘Blauer Engel’) seal, which recognise the paper as particularly environmentally friendly. This makes DCP Green an ideal paper for users with ecological conscience. Thanks to its high quality, it is not only suitable as a printing and copying paper, but also impresses in business use with its fine elegance.

The particular characteristic of DCP Green lies in its high whiteness. At 135 CIE, it is exceptionally white for a fully recycled paper. The high degree of whiteness and the satinised, closed surface with a slight gloss ensure prints of the highest quality. The special smoothness of the surface also makes writing by hand on DCP Green particularly pleasant. Pens and nibs glide wonderfully smoothly over this paper. We can therefore highly recommend DCP Green as a practice paper for calligraphy. Calligraphy exercises are super easy even for beginners on this paper. That’s why it is also included in our Calligraphy Package.

Grass Paper – resource-saving eye-catcher

Almost half of the raw material used makes our Grass Paper a particularly sustainable paper. 40% of the material consists of grass fibres and is therefore a rapidly renewable raw material. The grass also comes from local fallow and compensation areas, meaning that less wood is transported over long distances for paper production. However, the grass fibres used not only offer immense ecological benefits. They also characterise the overall effect of the natural paper. Visually, they are emphasised by the many inclusions, while haptically they give the paper an exciting, perceptible surface structure.

Grass Paper is an ideal choice for environmentally friendly and innovative print products in marketing, advertising and corporate communications where a visibly natural and sustainable character is desired. Grass Paper also looks wonderful in individually designed stationery for a wide variety of occasions. The printing results in laser printing are excellent. In addition, a surprisingly large number of painting mediums can be used on Grass Paper. With dry media, the structure ensures exciting colour abrasion. Wet media also works great with moderate use of water. You can even write on the uncoated paper with fountain pens and calligraphy nibs without the ink fraying or bleeding too much.

Jupp White Recycling – all-rounder for the best processing results

The recycled paper Jupp White Recycling bears the German ‘Blue Angel’ (‘Blauer Engel‘) eco-label and is FSC® Recycled certified, as it is made from 100% waste paper. Chlorine-free bleaching and energy generation using steam products from biomass further reduce the environmental impact of paper production.

The result is a particularly sustainable business paper in the Jupp range with a semi-smooth surface and a whiteness of 145 CIE. It is characterised above all by its excellent printing properties and strengths in the graphics sector. You can achieve the best results with Jupp White Recycling in laser and inkjet printing as well as in offset printing. The paper is also very suitable for many other processing and finishing processes. For example, it is ideal for hot foil stamping and varnishing. It is also ideal for screen printing and letterpress projects. The Jupp White Recycling 400 g/m² cardboard is particularly interesting for letterpress fans.

Kraft Paper – striking but versatile

Muskat Kraft Paper is also made from 100% recycled paper. With many white recycled papers today, this fact is no longer recognisable simply by looking at the paper and is only confirmed by corresponding certificates and seals. This is not the case with Kraft Paper: this paper shows its recycled character with pride! The brown colour with irregular inclusions and the rough surface texture create a slightly rustic charm and convey 100% sustainability at first glance.

But as characteristic and unique as the appearance of Kraft Paper is, it is used in a wide variety of ways. What once started as a trend in the DIY sector is now encountered across the entire spectrum of corporate communication in a wide range of industries and in a wide variety of applications by designers. For such a striking material, that is truly remarkable!

Munken – sustainably produced design paper

Munken fine paper has made it into our recommendations for sustainable papers thanks to a special feature: it is produced according to the ‘cradle-to-cradle’ principle in an idealised raw material cycle modelled on nature. All of the product’s raw materials remain 100% in a closed cycle after the utilisation period and are reused. Put simply, this means that no waste is produced during the manufacture of Munken papers. The C2C standard for safe and particularly sustainable production is recognised worldwide.

The high-quality design paper is available in fine shades of white and cream. It shines in business applications, especially in external communication and classic advertising, and is popular with designers for all kinds of print projects. We regularly come across it in high-quality notebooks and notepads, art prints, brochures and exhibition booklets. Due to the natural, not completely closed paper surface, draughtsmen also like to use Munken for sketches and drawings.

In the article Munken – Design and sustainability for print projects and business correspondence we present the Scandinavian classic and its environmentally friendly production in detail.

Evercolor – beautiful colours, 100% recycled paper

Evercolor recycled paper is a coloured office and printing paper from the French manufacturer Clairefontaine. It is produced from 100% waste paper using Carbon Neutral Biomass Energy® in an environmentally friendly way. Even the packaging of the paper is designed with sustainability in mind. It comes in a water-repellent paper wrapper (made without polythene), which you can dispose of in waste paper and thus return to the value chain.

Our Evercolor range offers you a choice of six fresh colours that can be used for a wide range of print projects. The coloured paper is particularly suitable for printed materials that are required in large quantities or that are touched very frequently and therefore need to be reprinted regularly, such as flyers, church booklets and menus. The six colours also offer many possibilities for pretty handicrafts. If you want to pay particular attention to sustainability in your wedding stationery, the coloured recycled paper is also an interesting candidate for a paper mix.

So which one is your paper favourite in this selection?
Do you feel like using (more) sustainable papers in the future?
Leave us a comment below.