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Powering Print Packaging Through Wind

December 27, 2008 Clean packaging. It's an interesting idea. One company, Curtis Packaging of Newtown, CT, has certainly set out to try to make it a reality.

I learned about Curtis Packaging through a press release earlier this year that announced that the City of Newtown had honored the company for its environmental efforts, including qualifying the city for a free solar energy system from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

The press release was intriguing, so I went to its website and was surprised to find that half of its home page was devoted to its environmental stewardship and commitment to sustainability. One of the rotating images on the page is even wind turbines.

Among the environmental nuggets:

• Curtis Packaging manufactures custom folding cartons using 100% renewable energy.
• The majority of Curtis’ renewable energy mix is wind power and approximately 30% of the purchase includes locally generated wind and hydro.
• Curtis Packaging has committed to purchasing a total of 4,524,800 kWh of renewable energy per year—enough to cover 100% of its energy usage—for the next three years. 
• The estimated environmental benefits of its renewable energy purchase are equivalent to not consuming 400,000 gallons of gasoline or offsetting the electricity use of 466 homes for one year.
• Curtis is the first printing and packaging company in North America to be 100% carbon neutral and to be FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified.
• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has recognized Curtis Packaging Corporation for making a significant commitment to purchase green power.

If you're looking to purchase "green" packaging, this is certainly a place to start. Even if you're not looking to purchase packaging, in today's world of bad environmental news, knowing that companies like Curtis Packaging are making such a deep and lasting commitment to real sustainability is a great encouragement.

Merry Christmas to the Earth!

Have questions? Comments? I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at info@digitalprintingreports.com. For more information on primers for marketers and small businesses on digital, 1:1, Web-to-print, and personalized URL applications, visit Digital Printing Reports. You can also keep up with all of my posts on EBS, The Inspired Economist ("Greening Print Marketing"), and other blog sites by following me on Twitter.

Posted by Heidi Tolliver Nigro on December 27, 2008 | Comments (0)