Green Eco-stamps – the slow but green option

From Stephen

The lady in the Fontès post office tore the green stamp off my letter. She then gave me a leaflet introducing le timbre vert.

"le timbre vert plus economique  0.57 € plus ecologique ne prend pas l'avion

(sauf courriers à destinationde la corse et des DOM)"

Not mentioned in the Press Release - see below

La Poste launches the eco-book For the Planet , a new kinder to the environment book of 12 stamps

Raymond Redding, Director General of post has announced the introduction of a new book of 12 stamps which is kinder to the environment and is available from Monday 15th January in 17,000 La Poste outlets. This book of stamps is a world first. It contains €0.54 stamps (urgent tariff) with Priority Letter labels which show the La Poste commitment to deliver the majority of letters next day.

"We are very proud to provide the French with a book of eco-friendly stamps making a day to day activity into a more environmentally responsible activity", declared Raymond Redding, Post General Manager.

500,000 books of stamps sold every day

Every day in France almost 500,000 books of self-adhesive stamps are sold. Concerned about reducing the environmental impact of this popular consumer product, La Poste decided to launch the "For the Planet" Eco-book on the 15th January 2007. La Poste is the first postal service in the world to offer an eco-friendly book of stamps which also has an almost identical surface to standard books and uses paper from certified forests.

192 trees saved each year

By putting 12 stamps instead of 10 in an almost identical sized book has resulted in a 13% reduction in paper used which is the equivalent to 12 tonnes of paper each year, or 192 trees spared! The paper used is from sustainable managed forests: the frontal paper (stamp face) is FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved and the outer book paper is PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) and non-bleached. Furthermore, the adhesive used is water-based and does not contain solvents and the red ink on the stamp does not contain substances from the list of dangerous substances*.

The "For the Planet" product range

The "For the Planet" range is identified by its specific logo and was launched by La Poste in 2006. It comes under one of the group’s 12 sustainable development commitments by offering its customers a range of more environmentally friendly products. Currently, the "For the Planet" Eco-book is the first postal product on this scale available to the general public. Internally, postal staff already have access to a range of eco-friendly stationary for their daily use (notebooks, calendars, diaries, etc.).
In spring 2007 other eco-friendly products will be introduced such as the NF Environment Ready-to-Post envelope, another flagship product in the Postal range.

* The dangerous substances are defined according to environmental norms, European regulations, the International Centre for Cancer Research (CIRC) and the work of the European Council of the Paint, Printing Inks and Artists’ Colours Industry (CEPE).