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The last time I bought #10 envelopes was about a half-decade ago. For reasons I don't recall, I hauled home a huge box of 500 envelopes. Shortly after, I started my green blog, drastically reduced all snail mail, and dragged around my big box of envelopes to a few different apartments until I finally used them all about a month ago.
So a couple weeks ago I walked a block to my nearest Staples -- my go-to store for 100% post-consumer recycled paper -- to find the office chain didn't offer any business-sized envelopes with recycled content!
Errand aborted, I walked back home to do some research. Need envelopes and won't settle for forest-destroying all-virgin paper? Consider these options:
Get it today:
>> Office Depot's recycled #10 envelopes. Staples is behind its competition, because Office Depot offers its own brand of eco-friendlier envelopes with 30% post-consumer recycled content. That said, 30% isn't as high a percentage of recycled content as I'd like, and a box of 250 envelopes costs $9.59 (3.8 cents an envelope -- more than twice as much as the non-recycled content type! Still, if you have an envelope emergency of sorts and need to buy them in a store right away, Office Depot at least offers a slightly greener option.
Best price for 100% post-consumer:
>> Ampad Envirotech recycled #10 envelopes at The Green Life. Envirotech envelopes are available at a bunch of web stores, but The Green Life has the best price for these 100% post-consumer recycled envelopes. A box of 500 envelopes costs $16.25 (3.2 cents an envelope -- and comes with the happy knowledge that no trees were felled for your snail mail habits.
FSC-certified:
>> Action Envelope #10 Square Flaps. If you won't settle for anything less than the greenest -- and price isn't too much of a concern, try Action Envelope's 100% post-consumer recycled, FSC-certified #10 envelopes. A box of 250 envelopes costs $34.95 (13.9 cents an envelope), though you can buy as few as 50 or as many as 50,000. The more you buy, the lower your per-envelope cost. (via karpul)
Tree-free:
>> Banana and coffee paper envelopes at Ecopaper. These envelopes are made with otherwise unusable byproducts of farming. A box of 100 envelopes costs $12.95 (13 cents an envelope).
>> Hemp Heritage envelopes from Green Field Paper Company. These hemp papers don't look as crunchy as they sound, but apparently hemp doesn't come cheap. A box of 50 envelopes costs $14.95 (30 cents an envelope), though you can get a bargain on 500 envelopes for $69.95.
Brown:
>> Natural Brown Ampad Envirotech Recycled #10 Envelopes. These 100% recycled envelopes with 40% post-consumer content are available at many different web stores -- including Amazon where a box of 500 costs $18.57 (3.7 cents an envelope).
Best bargains, with caveats:
>> Bulk and bargain envelopes at Green Earth Office Supply. This green online office supply store has the best selection of eco-friendly envelopes at all prices (and a website that looks like it was built in the '90s). Design and usability issues aside, this company has some serious bargains -- with caveats. Want 100% post-consumer recycled envelopes for less than 3 cents a piece? You can get that price -- if you buy 2500 envelopes. Kind of broke but want to try tree-free paper? A box of 100 coffee paper envelopes can be yours for a mere $2 -- but the catch is that the minimum order at this store's $40.
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After all that research, I ended up with envelope paralysis. Living in a tiny apartment, I really didn't want to get another box of 500 envelopes. I wanted just 50 or so -- but the few 50-envelope boxes I found cost twice as much as a 500-envelope, ungreen box, making me feel I was somehow getting ripped off....
What to do, what to do? I started to wonder: Do I even need to buy envelopes? I certainly don't use a whole lot of them....
So I've put the decision on hold while trying out a new eco-experiment: Seeing how long I can get by using free envelopes that come unsolicited in the mail. In just a couple weeks, I've already collected seven decent envelopes -- a couple from businesses that insist on sending me paper bills although I pay them online; a nice black envelope from a friend's overcomplicated wedding invite; three card-sized envelopes from FINCA, a nonprofit that sent a trio of card-and-envelope sets in a letter
