Products

They are designed for use with greetings cards and many of our customers use them for putting artwork in.
However we would not recommend them for archival use or with valuable paintings as we cannot guarantee them to be 'acid free'. 

The envelopes are manufactured in the UK and our papers are made in the UK / EU from post consumer waste sourced in the UK / EU.

Yes - We source our paper and card from reputable suppliers based in the UK. Depending on colour the papers are made in UK / EU mills from post consumer waste / post commercial waste sourced in the UK / EU. 

No - the eco-natural and hairy manilla paper and card are not dyed, or bleached using any chlorine.

All of our paper, card and packaging products are made from recycling waste paper collected from household and industry paper collections, which should not contain any animal waste products but we could not 100% guarantee this. The paper is then thoroughly cleaned to remove any such contaminates before processing.

The modern recycling process itself doesn't require the use of animal products or any animal testing.

Most of the materials we sell is not dyed and where the material is coloured, the dyes used will always be up to the latest EU safety
legislation, and will be non-toxic and free from any animal pigments such as cochineal.

Our envelopes are free from animal based adhesives and do not contain any gelatine. (The sealed parts use PVA and the flap glue is potato starch based)

Our clear bags are plant based with the self seal bags using a non toxic petro-chemical based adhesive tape (free from any animal products including Gelatine).

In essence, as far as is humanly possible we are happy that our products are animal friendly and should be suitable for use by vegetarians / vegan.

Yes - All of our card and papers are intended for printing through offset litho printers.
Most will work equally well for Letterpress and Screen Printing.
For inkjet you will need to check the spec of your machine for thicker sheets. We recommend checking a test sample first to check for suitability - bleed, drying time, thickness etc.
For toner based machines (laser and digital) - most of our customers find offset materials work without any problems but you will need to double check the spec for the machine. We recommend trying a test sample first to check for suitability.
(Please note our Felt White material has a surface texture and WILL NOT work on copiers or laser and digital printers).

We're told by our suppliers that most of our card and paper should be ph neutral but because the waste paper (raw material) is so variable then there will always be some minor variations in the ph. Therefore we can't guarantee that our coloured card and paper is acid free / pH neutral - sorry.

Yes unfortunately that is the nature of the material. It's made from 100% post consumer waste and no dye is used at all to colour it. Therefore the shade is largely dependant on what waste is available when the paper is being made.
Sometimes it's not noticeable but sometimes it is more grey than brown. We try to buy in larger batches to maintain a shade for as long as possible but do appreciate that the materials inconsistency can be a nuisance sometimes for some of our customers. For others this is the proof of it's recycled credentials. It is after all the greenest paper we stock - it's manufactured in the UK from 100% post consumer UK waste.

They are made from corn starch and are these are fully biodegradable and compostable, breaking down into CO2 and H2O. (at a constant 58°C it takes approx 45 days to decompose.)
The bio-film is manufactured by a company in the EU and then made into bags in the UK.
These bags are derived from corn starch which comes from an annually renewable crop. As opposed to fossil fuel derived oil based plastics which are non renewable.

The shelf life at room temp, kept away from humidity and direct sunlight should run to years.
In normal household conditions they are quite stable - they may well take years to start degrading. (We still have some of the first batch from about 14 years ago and they are still OK. Until they start to degrade we don't have a definitive time scale.)
The main thing to avoid is prolonged exposure to humidity - avoid excessive heat, moisture and light to maximise shelf life otherwise they will start to degrade.
(If a bag is splashed with water they don't start to degrade immediately. If wiped off straight away they should come to no harm.)

The glued down flaps are PVA and the glue on the open flap (the the licking side) is starch based, derived from potatoes sourced in the UK.