First of all, congratulations on choosing (or thinking of choosing) a digipak instead of a conventional jewelcase or amaray type case. You’re one step ahead of the game already by using less plastic. (you’re also one step ahead of the game in looks, too – digipaks are soooo much better looking than generic cases!) digipaks use just one tray instead on an entire case’s worth of plastic – so at minimum they are a 50% improvement over the cases. And for the paper part, did you know that our STANDARD stock, contains 20% recycled content? (That’s higher than most stocks promoted as being recycled paper.) The papers come from FSC certified paper manufacturers.

The finish we prefer is generally aqueous as it’s earth friendly (UV is very nice, but not so eco). We even have non-toxic shrinkwrap or can use tab seals to close the package too. So overall you already are using less plastic, FSC paper with recycled paper with a fairly high percentage of recycled content, good earth friendly finishes– that’s good. Really good.

Our digipaks are definitely Eco Friendly to begin with:
- Less plastic
- Our Standard Stock = 20% Recycled Content, FSC certified
-Our standard finish = aqueous, Earth Friendly
-Non Toxic Shrinkwrap and shrinkwrap alternatives

Can they be even more Eco Friendly? Yes! Check this out:

This is our term, and we define an Eco digipak as a digipak with additional eco-friendly features. That can be a special eco paper stock, or soy inks, or using recycled trays. Any of these features in our mind, sets it apart as being one step further in the eco-friendly ranking.
- Recycled Paper Stock (over 70-80% recycled content and post consumer waste)
- Fiberboard Paper Stock (contains recycled content, end of chain, pulp paper, and is unbleached)
- Soy Inks (vegetable-based inks)
- Recycled Trays (recycling plastic)

If you are eco –conscious, you should be aware that many of the stocks out there that are promoted as “eco –friendly” and “recycled paper” stock, but they only contain a small percentage of recycled stock. Actually, all paper contains some amount of recycled stock, but it doesn’t seem fair to promote regular paper as suddenly being recycled paper. That’s a bit misleading, we feel. Is there a standard? Well yes, the EPA set one. They say that recycled paper is defined as containing over 50% recycled content. So we feel that our Standard stock (even though it’s much higher percentage than proclaimed “recycled stocks”) doesn’t meet the criteria. We have a special stock of paper we do feel comfortable calling Eco,, and we call it Truly Eco. That’s our own name for it, but we feel it needs distinguishing from some stocks that do not meet the EPA criteria.

Truly Eco Paper Stock – 70-80% Recycled Content and Post Consumer Waste.
Our Truly Eco stock contains 70-80% recycled content, and the post consumer waste portion is about 80%. That’s very high in the industry! You can feel confident that this paper stock meets anyone’s criteria for being Eco. This level of recycled content does make the paper stock softer, so it may not be for every project. But if you are looking for Truly Eco – recycled paper that is truly eco and not just promoted as it, this is the way to go.

Sometimes clients ask us for 100% recycled content. We have ordered it and used it before, but we strongly discourage it as it is very soft. The point thickness can still measure high, but if the recycled content is too high, that paper is almost too “flimsy”.

mayday 4pp digipak

path to eden 6pp tall digipak

Many of our clients also prefer a matte look for their projects. Recycled, uncoated is a great way to achieve that look.

Fiberboard is another level of eco. It uses the end of the chain material – also called pulp – that can’t be used anywhere else and combines it together in a

4pp fiberboard digipak STS9

paperstock. The pulp nature gives the paper a texture – kind of fuzzy. The paper is unbleached, so it’s brownish, like kraft paper or a paper bag. Overall it has a very organic look to it, and this paper stock is what we think of first when clients tell us they want an organic look to their title. Because the paper stock is brownish, you need to remember that printing on it will affect your colors. If well thought out, this results in a nice muted tone.

chaIse 4pp tall digipak in fiberboard
sTS9 4pp tall digipak fiberboard, diagonal pocket
musikvergnuegen
4pp tall digipak fiberboard

Yes we can do these. It’s a fantastic form of recycling and conserving. digipaks already use less than half the plastic of jewelcases or amaray type cases, but if the plastic used is recycled, you’ve effectively used even less. Let us know if you have any concerns on these. As with all of our features, it’s optional. We have no off-the-shelf items here, and everything is custom made for your needs.

We mentioned above that our papers are FSC certified. What does that mean? Forest Stewardship Council means that they are involved in good practices that encourage longevity of the forests.

Not a problem. We carry them and print with them frequently. They are less toxic overall – less processing involved in the manufacturing , less clean up environmentally, and easy on the degrading process. We haven’t seen any drawbacks to these yet. You can’t do a pantone match like Coca-Cola Red #xyz, but that seems to be fine to most folks. If you want to see how it’s coming out, we can send you a press proof.

molly zenobia 4pp jacket recycled

in lak ech 4pp digipak recycled

We like to do aqueous as our standard finish. You can see from our product shots that it’s beautiful, and we feel good about less impact environmentally. Aqueous flood coats seal in the ink to keep it from smudging – printed packaging does need some form of sealing – and we think this is the most environmentally friendly one.

For our many of our eco oriented clients, it’s important to not use UV. UV coating is a plastic coating that is cured by UV light. It’s wonderful for certain effects (we use it on titles with special effects like spot UV gloss and matte lamination, absolutely stunning! ) but it doesn’t break down. So unless there’s a special effects need, we opt for aqueous floods. If you have a preference, let us know!

magic mama tab seal

If you do want shrinkwrap, that’s ok. Our shrinkwrap is non toxic.
If you prefer to avoid shrinkwrap altogether, you might like a tab seal.



moxie2 magnetic closure 4pp tall jacket foam hub

And we have one other unique form of closing that’s neither of the above - a magnetic closure! But we haven’t figured out how to do this on a digipak yet. If you’re interested, let us know!

We started exploring eco options over ten years ago, long before every replicator and printer’s web pages looked like an environmental page. We worked very hard to find resources that met our criteria, our clients’ criteria , and best yet – we’ve had lots of experience manufacturing with them. That’s why you see so many pictures of them on our site.

We like to make a good impact on the world, and our practices and features reflect that. Everyone has a different eco focus it seems (like how some folks prefer paper or plastic in grocery bags – both for god reasons) . With discs and packaging, for some it’s the paper, for some it’s the plastic, and for some it’s the chemicals and finishes. Rest assured that no matter what features you choose on your title, you’re already much further along the eco friendly scale than you would be other places.

It’s good to see the rest of the world becoming more eco conscious, but it would be better just if it weren’t just marketing hype, huh? Some of these clean footprints are looking pretty dirty to us. So we urge you to check the facts, and read the fine print. There’s eco marketing hype, and then there’s what we call truly eco.

See Molly Zenobia
Shop by Styles: ECO Friendly — Organic Look
Shop by Packaging: Jackets; Fiberboard Jackets
Shop by Packaging: Jackets; Eco Jackets, Wallets, Sleeves

Here are some of our fun and unusual Digipak Titles:

Cross Shaped Digipaks and Jackets
Custom CD Digipaks (5inch)
Custom DVD Digipaks (7inch)
Limited Edition Digipaks
Double Disc Digipaks
Fiberboard Digipaks
Recycled Paper Digipaks
Matte Uncoated Digipaks
Paper Tray Digipaks
Wide Digipaks
Mega Tall Digipaks (10inch) Multidisc Sets
Multidisc Digipak Sets
DigiBooks