We work towards better paper and better packaging every year
The paper we use balances beautiful reproduction of the art, a surface that one can write on with most pens and pencils, and eco credentials.
Since we started publishing our diaries in 2007 and calendars in 2009 the entire Earth Pathways team has become paper geeks.
We use quality paper and for us quality has some quite specific meanings. Our artists and photography contributors rely on us using paper that shows their work beautifully. You, the diary user, want to be able to grab any writing implement to make your mark. And we all want to know that the paper that is used can prove that it has good eco-credentials.
We have been constantly researching to find the most appropriate paper for our needs. The whole issue of paper has always been a great cause for debate and consideration for the diary. It's a juggling act between not cutting down trees, finding recycled paper that does justice to the artwork, and having paper that people want to write on with a variety of different types of pens.
In 2021 we sourced some beautiful, 100% fully recycled paper
Revive 100 Offset feels amazing; you can write on it with any pen, including gel pens, and it dries quickly; there is no 'carbon copy' effect, and the artwork has reproduced exquisitely. Plus it meets our ethos regarding sustainability. Using recycled fibre reduces the dependency on commercial forestry as a source for raw materials, and this encourages further forestry growth and increases nature's process of carbon absorption. Recycling paper also reduces waste that would otherwise go to landfill. This, in turn, reduces the carbon based emissions that would have been released through landfill degradation. Earth care is at the heart of the Earth Pathways ethos and the positive response we have had to our introduction of the Revive paper has encouraged us to use it for all of our product range going forward.
For several years until 2021 we had been using a matt-coated FSC paper of very good quality and with good eco-credentials. It gave the artwork a really crisp print, which of course did justice to all the beautiful artwork and photos in the Diary and Calendar. It has one big problem though, and that is a carbon copy effect when you press hard, with a shadow of writing transferring to the page beneath it.
We tried to address this with a change of paper for 2022.
The 2022 Diary and Calendar was printed on a top-end recycled paper with very high eco-credentials
There is no carbon-copy effect! Unfortunately, there was a tradeoff which was that it was a more bulky paper meaning that the ring binder had to be a bigger size and the artwork wasn't quite as sharp.
We began using recycled Offset Paper, which had a great earthy feel and great soaking up ability for the gel pens but the artwork suffered as the printing ink also soaked in and the images were not as sharp as they could be. Good quality recycled paper that didn't have a 'carbon copy' effect has been increasingly hard to source and also growing in cost for the quantities we use, so for the last couple of years we used a Matt Finish FSC paper. This gave a nice feel to the paper and a great sharpness to the images - but it still wasn't good with gel or fountain pens drying fast. Also - and this is hugely significant to us - even paper that is FSC certified is still cutting down living trees, despite being from forests that are responsibly managed.
In 2023 we returned to the matt coated, carbon balanced, FSC paper
The decision to return to the Arctic Matt Carbon-balanced FSC paper in 2023 means that the art work is better reproduced as it has slightly sharper images. In addition, the diary has a smaller ring binder, which reduces the packaging and the postage costs, thereby managing the overall price rises.
As you know the world has seen prices of everything go up and this unfortunately means that paper prices have increased so much that we needed to consider all the ways of keeping the cost and price of the diary down. We felt that keeping our products affordable was dear to people's hearts at this time of escalating prices. After another long consultation with our printers in Wales we decided to return to our previous decision.
So the 2023 Diary and Calendar has a carbon copy effect when we press firmly. Experimentation shows that the carbon copy effect only happens when one presses hard… a lighter touch really does stop it happening. Alternatively you can slip a separator between pages when you write and so we added a blank page at the back of the diary should you wish to tear this out and use.
Sadly we could not continue using the wonderful recycled paper for the 2023 diary and calendar because it became too expensive. We have always had a policy of keeping the prices of our products as low as possible, but since Brexit, paper prices have risen so much that we had to make the difficult decision to use an FSC paper instead. This too had risen dramatically in price but not as much as the recycled stock.
Our decision was helped by our wonderful printers Cambrian/Pensord having joined a carbon balancing scheme. Carbon balancing is a scheme that invests money in offsetting the amount of CO2 produced during the manufacturing process. There are a few schemes, but Pensord/Cambrian have chosen The World Land Trust initiative that invests in preserving environmentally important forests which are under imminent threat of deforestation. The lead patron of this scheme is Sir David Attenborough, and we think he knows a thing or two about this stuff!