Special papers

Welcome to print.coop, the ink-on-paper pages from specialist printing and design co-operative, Calverts. We produce high quality, economical and sustainable, commercial print. We're experts in the latest and best litho and digital printing technology, as well as traditional craft applications. We know almost every commodity grade or 'designer' FSC® or recycled paper on the market, and can tell you about the most cost effective formats.

our approach

Why work with Calverts?

Print buyers come to Calverts for four main reasons - our creativity, quality, expert advice and track record in sustainable printing.

We have proper conversations with our clients, to help them realise their print ambitions - from fairtrade teaching tools and low carbon travel guides to art and science comics and high end books. There's almost no print idea we can't turn into reality.

We have a hard-earned reputation as 'green' printers. We're always investing, learning and sharing what we know about every aspect of low environmental impact communications.

And Calverts worker co-operative business model means we're able to improve continuously, by putting our money into state-of-the art repro and printing hardware, software and training - instead of paying dividends to outside owners and shareholders.

All this adds up to higher quality, higher impact print; timely delivery - and a better print experience.

Get in touch and we'll help you print something beautiful.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Standards & certification

Design and print affect the environment. Calverts has therefore implemented an environmental management system to the requirements of ISO 14001 to reduce our negative environmental impacts.

We are committed to comply with or exceed the requirements of environmental legislation and other environmental initiatives to which we subscribe. We are also committed to the prevention of pollution and continual improvement.

Our objectives are to:

1) Reduce our carbon emissions

2) Reduce the impact of paper use on natural resources

3) Improve resource efficiency and recycling

We have set up programmes to achieve this with targets and time scales.

Find out more about our environmental initiatives.

Sustainability

We've printed postcards on paper impregnated with seeds that grow into wildflowers, we've printed art prints on onion skin paper, and we've printed folders made from shoebox material. So for those who like to experiment with their papers and produce something a little bit special with an interesting back story then the Shiro Alga Carta range from the Italian paper group Favini is worth checking out.

Over the years Favini have developed technologies to produce paper using organic refuse such as pulp from the wine-making process, mud, and even smog.

The Shiro Alga Carta range is made from algae from the Venetian Canal. The raw algae are dried then milled to obtain seaweed ‘flour’. The flour is then combined with FSC® certified paper fibres to make a high quality environmentally friendly paper. The result is a speckled paper where the speckles are the milled algae and interestingly, over time, the paper becomes whiter due to the chlorophyll in the algae.

Shiro Alga Carta Bianco is a whiter sheet while Shiro Alga Carta Avorio has a slightly yellowed hue.

Get in touch if you would like to use a special paper on your next print project.