Why stop at printing on recycled card stock when you could make your business card super eco-friendly, creative and memorable all at once? After all, business cards are a dime a dozen – most of them go into your wallet and aren’t taken out again until you’re cleaning it out and ready to throw them away. These seven green business card ideas are definitely outside the box, making an impression that will last much longer than most.
Blooms When Dipped in Water
Seed packets or cards with seeds embedded in them are a popular eco option, but two ultra-creative takes on this idea caught our eye. The first is a growing business card by designer Jamie Wieck that acts as a mini-houseplant, blooming when the packet is dipped in water.
Next up is a card design that isn’t just green and eye-catching, but perfectly sums up what the business is all about. Landscape architecture firm Tur & Partner created this seeded business card that sprouts up a miniature garden when exposed to light and water.
Making it Your Own
What do you do when you make an important contact but are caught without your business cards? Reach for one of the ones you’ve already got in your wallet, scribble out the info and fill in your own. Just try not to hand your ‘recycled’ business card back to the person who gave it to you in the first place.
A Card with Many Uses
This concept, by designer Ji-Young Chun, was intended for use as a credit card, but it could definitely apply to business cards as well. If something has more than one use, people are going to be less likely to throw it away.
Of course, multi-use business cards are greener when they’re made using items that have a smaller ecological footprint in the first place, like secondhand household objects that somebody will actually find handy and keep. Clothespins, like the one seen above, are a great example.
Just Eat It
Okay, so this one is kind of counterproductive. As soon as someone eats it, your contact info is gone. But the concept is definitely an attention-getter, and they’re biodegradable, so that’s worth something, right?
Stamp on Scraps
Perhaps the greenest idea of all, this business card by Fischer Portugal can be created anytime, anywhere on just about any kind of material. A hand-held rubber stamp imprints your important details on scraps of cardboard, flyers, envelopes, receipts or whatever you might have on hand.
