DVD's Going Green

Published: 10/29/2008 by Suzanne Lamar, PageSage

Finally there is an economically viable solution that reflects the recycling we've done in other aspects of our lives for years. PageSage is the first video/DVD publisher in the hobby and craft industry to go green. This is an initiative that we have been working towards for quite some time, but all of the solutions we found were either cost-prohibitive or did not produce the quality that we require in our packaging.

Going green is more than just printing on recycled papers. Sure, that is a great start, but it introduces other issues along the way. Recycled paper is not white. When you print on paper that is not white, you do not achieve the same vibrant color. Some companies take the recycled paper and bleach it to make it white. Wait a minute. Bleach is not very earth-friendly! Our printer coats the paper with a layer of white ink (and lets it dry) before printing color. Speaking of ink, the standard ink used on printing presses today is solvent-based. A greener solution is to use soy-based inks. We found a printer that can do that and we were off and running...

Hmmm. How will we seal the DVD packaging if the only components are cardstock and a single recycled plastic tray to hold the disc itself? The first solution proposed was to shrink wrap it. We laughed. Shrink wrap? That is not made from recycled plastic, is it? No. We found another solution. (Each step along the way created as many questions as answers!)

The first DVD that we will unveil with our redesigned packaging will be the Art Unscripted Retreat with Carol Duvall. What about existing titles? (Well, it certainly would not be a green initiative for PageSage to discard a bunch of product that is already manufactured just to change the packaging.) As our inventory is depleted on existing titles, they will transition to the new packaging.

Unfortunately, today recycled packaging costs more than its less earth-friendly counterpart. We hope that someday the scales will tilt the other way as more and more manufacturers (and consumers) demand green packaging. In the meantime, PageSage will absorb the cost. We won't raise our prices just because we choose to do the right thing. (We thought you might like that news!) Manufacturing with recycled materials also takes more time, but it is well worth the wait.

Stay tuned for more announcements about Carol's new DVD, (shipping in a few weeks). Going green just represents one new and improved PageSage feature for this DVD.