Small batch production allows me to produce a high quality product with lower waste and an affordable price. When we keep limited physical stock it reduces the waste we make when creating the product and the waste created if a product doesn’t sell and just takes up space on the shelf. Every paper product we make creates waste in the way of paper cuttings. While we do recycle our paper cuttings into new hand-made paper, not all of the cuttings can be used for this. Some of the cuttings are laminated or come from sticker paper. Neither of those can be used for hand-made paper making, they just go in the trash.

While we strive to use as much of the non-recyclable paper products as possible, inevitably there will still be some that goes into a landfill. By having less physical stock we don’t have an excess of those extra bits. Online orders are generally made to order, unless I have stock left over from an in-person event. For in person events I don’t take a large quantity. I make 2 of most paper pads, one of each notebook, one or two of each notebooklet. Stickers are our best seller currently and for the best best sellers of the stickers I will take 4-6. The ones that sell less frequently I’ll take maybe 2.

I am very agressive about “discontinuing” a pattern or product.

If it’s not selling it goes on sale to get it out of the way for new patterns. Maybe someone didn’t like it enough to pay full price… but half price is worth it. I would rather discontinued items be sold for significantly less than either sitting and taking up space on a shelf or worse, going to the trash. Thankfully, I can recycle most of the items that don’t sell but there are still things that I can’t – notebook covers and bookmarks primarily. If I discontinue a sticker and I have some physical ones, I’ll drop them in as a bonus item. We don’t regularly include a bonus item with orders, sending someone something that they didn’t want runs the risk of it just ending up in the trash when someone else might have kept it and enjoyed it. Again, I would rather sell something at a loss of profit than it go in the trash.

I’m really adamant about this in my personal life as well. This isn’t just something my business focuses on. I am a chronic jar hoarder, a big fan of reusable bags, and mend my clothes to wear them for years (I still have some clothes from 10+ years ago).

So you’re recycling paper products but there is nothing in your shop made of recycled paper?

Correct. I haven’t figured out what I want to do with it yet so I’m just hoarding it in stacks in my studio and scratching my head… I have some ideas though and hopefully some of them will pop-up in my shop soon.

What eco-conscious decisions do you make to streamline your business and reduce waste? If none currently, think about little things you could be doing without sacrificing quality or production. You might be surprised at how some little changes could actually benefit you.