What started as part of Woodmansterne’s mission to improve the recyclability labeling on its products has led to ‘Recycle Me’ becoming a new nationally accepted logo, recognised by WRAP (the Waste and Resources Action Programme) that can be used specifically on greeting cards (with a few caveats).
As Paul Woodmansterne, managing director of Woodmansterne explained how, as part of its environmental responsibilities how Woodmansterne made it a priority “to make it clear to consumers now how they should dispose of waste elements (bags) and products (cards and envelopes).”
In pursuit of this the Woodmansterne team came up with the phrase ‘Recycle Me’ and approached WRAP to grant the body’s approval for its use with its ‘circular arrow’ graphic.
“Before, they had simply ‘recycle’ or ‘recycle now’. We believe, that for greeting cards, ‘recycle me’ feels more friendly (and doesn’t demand that you throw away your card instantly!)” elaborated Paul, who has been keen right from the start that any developments it made on this front would be shared with other publishers.
Building on the relationship the GCA has already forged with WRAP on wider industry issues, Sharon Little, ceo of the trade association joined the discussions.
The result is that the Recycle Me logo has been officially recognised by WRAP and it has been uploaded to its Resource Library for use only by greeting card publishers for the backs of their cards (providing certain criteria is met).
“I wholeheartedly agree with Paul [Woodmansterne] that it is in the whole industry’s interest that we take a consistent approach to labeling to minimise any consumer confusion. WRAP’s willingness to work with us on this matter is invaluable.”
To be able to use the WRAP logos, publishers need to sign up and become a WRAP partner, which only takes a few minutes and costs nothing.
As it clearly states on the WRAP website, the Recycle Me mark ‘should NOT be used on greeting cards that contain glitter or additional non-recyclable decorations, such as batteries or badges unless accompanied with the instruction. ‘Please remove any glitter, batteries or badges and dispose of these items with your non-recyclable waste’ This Mark should also NOT be used on any form of packaging, as this where the OPRL labeling system is applicable.’
The logo can be downloaded either as PDF or an eps (with the text either black on or white out of black) from WRAP’s Resource Library.
