The Problem with Plastic
More and more, consumers are asking us not to sleeve our cards with plastic. Of course, we sleeve them to protect them from becoming shop-worn, and we understand that as a retailer you want your cards to look nice and the sleeves protect them from fingers and the elements.
At Calypso Cards we do our best to take the environment into consideration by using FSC or recycled paper, biodegradable glitter and vegetable inks. Our own publications are printed with 100% Wind Power in the USA. However, we do not do a good job when it comes to the plastic sleeves. Although they are ♷ recyclable, since 2018 when China stopped receiving plastic recycling and waste from the US, most of it ends up in landfill, where it will still be 1000 years from now, or worse, in the ocean, where it creates litter and eventually breaks down into small particles which are likely to be eaten by marine animals, and then humans via the food chain. Compostable sleeves are available, however as they decompose they release methane into the environment so they are not a good solution.
We recently surveyed our retailers, asking:
Do you prefer your cards to be sleeved? 54% of respondents said yes
Would you consider unsleeved cards for the sake of the environment? 74% of respondents said yes.
This is encouraging!
We would very much like to move away from plastic sleeves. We recognize this will take time and awareness. To learn more, we invite you to visit www.papernotplastic.org, a very informative website, beautifully designed by our friends at E. Frances.
At Calypso Cards, we are taking a first step,
offering our 2022 Spring Seasonal release unsleeved or sleeved.
If you request unsleeved, the envelopes will be simply nested in the card.
If you do not request unsleeved, your order will be sleeved as usual.
To provide your cards unsleeved we MUST receive your order by 15th November 2021.
Orders received by 15th November 2021 will also receive a 5% discount on the unsleeved cards!
For orders received after 15th November 2021, cards may not be available unsleeved.
Some of the cards for 2022 are already sleeved, in which case we will not unsleeve them. If you want ONLY unsleeved cards please note that on your order and we will leave off any that are only sleeved.
Spring Seasonal cards have a short shelf-life and therefore less risk of becoming shop-worn. Pre-sales allow us to judge quantities for assembly. This test will help us see what our retailers would like going forward. We welcome your comments below.