Postful: The Web's Printer

Environmental Impact

Manufacturing Process

We have made a commitment to use the most environmentally friendly paper sources that still meet our quality standards. At this point, our stock is 50% from recycled sources (post-consumer waste). Additionally, all of our paper is Forest Stewardship Council approved. Closing the process, all waste paper from our manufacturing process is separated and recycled.

We avoid the use of toxic chemicals in the manufacturing process and are constantly adjusting our processes to improve their net impact.

Total Impact

While mitigation of direct impacts is important, we think the critical step is to examine whether a given product makes the overall situation better. For now, it's a given that a certain number of documents will be printed. The question is then whether it's better to have them printed through personal/business printers or through Postful.

It takes huge amounts of energy and resources to produce even a single printer. For most users, this initial resource investment, combined with the power drain during the long waits for jobs, dwarfs the impact of any actual printing (by several orders of magnitude).

By allowing users, both consumers and individuals, to eliminate or reduce the total number of printers required, we are having an immediate positive benefit. Moving messy processes into the computing cloud where they can be simplified for users and optimized in terms of resource use is a benefit for everyone.

Overall

We made a commitment as a company to make sure that our actions made the overall environmental situation better. We're always looking to improve, but we feel that we are living up to that goal.