We have been selling our UK made, ENVIRO recycled sketchbook range for over 10 years now. Providing sustainable art supplies is very important to us, as is ensuring that the recycled nature of the product does not compromise on the quality of the product for the customer. Traditionally recycled cartridge paper has had a grey tinge to it which has come from the printing on the paper. To ensure that our ENVIRO paper does not have this, the mill makes the paper to our specification using only pre-consumer waste (essentially off-cuts from the paper being produced at the mill) and we find that this gives our paper a very nice creamy/off-white finish.
We source the covers and paper in the UK and then the sketchbooks are put together by bookbinders not too far away from us in the South giving us a fully recycled, UK made sketchbook range. The covers are hardboard with the 'softer' side facing out on the 170gsm books giving a book that feels nice too. It may or may not be true that the original plan was for the shiny side to be facing out and then the bookbinder did it the other way round by accident and we realised that we much preferred it that way!
We have since added to the ENVIRO range by making the cartridge paper used in the books available as paper packs. These packs are perfect for individual heavy consumers of cartridge paper and also for Schools, Colleges and Universities where it gives them a sustainable option for drawing paper. Education buyers can benefit from a 35% discount on orders over £200 and can also pay by Purchase Order.
We also have a 'Flat White' version of these paper packs in A3 and A4 where 50% of the paper mix is from pre-consumer (mill) waste from the production of disposable coffee cups. The paper quality is identical to our ENVIRO range but has the added attraction of using the previously non-recyclable coffee cup waste.
After much time spent deliberating over which black was the most 'black', we also added a high quality 270gsm ENVIRO black card that we use in our black card sketchbooks and that is also available in A1, A2, A3 & A4 packs.
Fairly recently, we added a mixed media paper to the ENVIRO range with our 250gsm Multi-Arte range. This is available in and A3 or an A4 sketchbook, folio packs, or an A2 paper pack. As well as being a heavier weight cartridge paper, it also has a rougher texture to enable it to take different types of media.
All cartridge paper and mixed media paper in the ENVRO range is 100% acid free.
