But what do all of these labels mean? The truth is, many of these certifications are suspect - clever ways that industry associations have learned to create an impression of sustainability without doing the hard work. A fair, comprehensive standard lets purchasers cut through all of this green noise and make more informed product choices. Credible sustainability standards must be accessible, comprehensive and transparent. A certification standard is only as good sexy lingerie sexy costumes as the processes used to derive and maintain it. Quality standards must be generated by consensus from open committees.

Eco-envelopes is definitely one of the most efficient 2-way envelopes coming onto the marketplace in 2008, and should be celebrated, but it is by no means the first USPS approved 2-way. Two way envelopes (out and back made with a single piece of paper) have been around for 25 plus years. Readers might be interested in seeing the web sites of Tension Envelope, Supremex Envelope, and Sheppard Envelope (all three have different patents on 2-way envelopes). In fact, some of the older designs, like Sheppard's 2-way Envirolope still under patent protection, offer similar source reduction advantages as eco-envelopes plus the ability to displace a coupon or insert ... its design basically ensures that the source code in a direct mail or non-profit offer comes back with the return envelope. It is also machine insertable and very end-user friendly to open (see video posted at www.sheppardenvelope.com) with lots of testimonials for billing, collections, and fundraising. Eco-envelopes should be commended for widening the options for 2-way envelopes, which, by virtue of using less paper to accomplish the same task, dramatically reduces the carbon footprint with or without recycled paper, but they are not the only USPS approved product. In fact, a new entrant, the patent pending ZIPMAE, offers the opportunity for an end-user to reply by post card instead of with a reply envelope and allows the end-user to get a coupon and business card --- all integrated into the outgoing envelope! ZIPMAE received its USPS approval in July of 2007. Happy to discuss more!

Sincerely,

Brook Spaulding

774-696-3517 cell

brookspaulding@aol.com

brook@circinusinternational.com

brook@sheppardenvelope.com

note: in the interest of full disclosure, I am president of Sheppard Envelope Company and president of Circinus International LLC. Circinus is seeking licensees for advancement of the ZIPMAE and Sheppard is willing to license additional manufacturers of the Envirolope (formerly known as the Boomerang)