Recycled Packaging (for mailing zines)

[Hannah]

hi, Team Zine!
when shipping zines to Etsy customers, i like to use a variety of recycled materials for packaging them up (and i've noticed that others do too!) i thought it might be a good idea to start a discussion about where to get such materials.

i like to raid the recycling bins everywhere on my college campus, but especially at the post office! people open their mail and immediately discard the packaging. so i get a lot of great envelopes, bubble mailers, etc.

i've seen others use pages from old books, taped together at the edges, to form perfect zine-sized envelopes. and i just recently started using the stiff cardboard from cereal boxes as zine mailers.

i look forward to hearing more creative solutions!

[Sabrina]

Most often, I use my old calendars to make custom-fit envelopes. For larger orders I use brown paper grocery bags.

[Alex Wrekk]

I like to reuse envelopes sent to me or what I can find in the recycling bin at the IPRC or my post office. I also like to make my own envelopes with maps. I have tons of maps that I got for free. I got this stamp from someone on Etsy.

Sometimes it seems that real die hard arty-crafty people on etsy don't like reused shipping supplies and I find that upsettting. I like the stamp because maybe it makes them stop and think about it for a second.

[NicoleIntrovert]

I definitely try to open all packaging i receive carefully so that i can re-use. The good thing sometimes is that most of the people i correspond with also re-use packaging... so sometimes by the time it gets to me it wouldn't really offer good protection to use again, so then i recycle it.

I like the idea of old calendars and such, i definitely have a lot of that junk lying around. Also i use old magazine pages to make envelopes for my 1/4 sized zines. A friend of mine actually laminated an envelope stencil for me so i can cut around pages really quick-like.

I really dig that stamp, Alex. I may have to add it to my Etsy faves!

[Emma Jane Falconer]

Magazine pages taped make great envelopes as well. I always keep any suitable envelope from things that were sent to me as well.

[Emma Jane Falconer]

Some of the people on the etsy forums make my jaw drop "showing a human touching the item that I'm going to buy makes me feel queasy and not want it"- do they think that the makers have sterile robot fingers?

[Alex Wrekk]

I am blow away by that too... but I guess I jsut have to accept that they are in a different world in a way. I am also annoyed by teh "how dare you not put and invoice in my order" well, ok but you got an Etsy invoice and a paypal invoice, why should I send yo a paper one?

Emma Jane Falconer said:

Some of the people on the etsy forums make my jaw drop "showing a human touching the item that I'm going to buy makes me feel queasy and not want it"- do they think that the makers have sterile robot fingers?

[Krissy PonyBoy Press]

I order a lot of stuff on the internet, from clothes, to Etsy stuff to prescriptions. I save all the packaging. I reuse it all. I also shop at SCRAP, a local reuse center, and get donated business envelopes. I have been sending out zines from the WB office here in Portland for months!

Sometimes I worry customers will be turned off by the sometimes kind of patched together mailers I use. Maybe using that stamp Alex posted will help with that. And if I buy it I will get another bubble envelope to reuse! ;-7

[Mae Undead]

I also reuse my envelopes and I have a ton! Sometimes I draw on them when I send them out.

I have used old calendars before and magazine pages and such. I love getting different type of envelopes! Sometimes I save the ones I really like, heehee.

[Maranda Elizabeth]

I reuse all my envelopes, not just the bubble mailers, but ordinary envelopes as well. In fact, I had so many that I did not purchase envelopes at all for about five years, and only recently had to stock up. I also save and reuse tissue paper.