Minimising Waste
We use initiatives like pre-orders and seconds sales to avoid over-production and ensure that nothing is wasted. The same goes for our suppliers who work hard to recycle even the dust particles of paper.
Mark+Fold Pre-orders
As a small independent business, Pre-orders help us to turn new ideas into reality, confident in the knowledge that we have customer orders under our belt, before we place orders for materials, and book production slots at our factories.
Pre-orders enable us to work creatively with a broad range of beautiful materials and finishes, and to support expert, local factories. This means all our materials and finished items can be made sustainably, and to an exceptionally high standard of quality, here in the UK and Belgium.
We are immensely grateful to all the loyal customers who support our work in this way. The fact that you repeatedly put your faith in us to deliver an object you will love, really means the world to us and makes all the hard work worthwhile.
As a token of our appreciation, we offer all pre-order items at a special price while they are still in production.
Tempted to get ahead of the crowd? See what's available to pre-order now.
Mark+Fold Seconds Sales
As part of our zero-tolerance to waste, we hold a bi-annual Seconds Sale. Mark+Folders will know already, that our prices remain the same throughout the year. The bi-annual Seconds Sale is our opportunity to sell items that we’ve put to one side for having what we think of as ‘minor imperfections’. These range from slight sun damage, small knocks to corners (suffered in transit) or the occasional print error with the foiling.
We generally hold Seconds Sales around the New Year, and in mid-summer. Join our Mailing List to be kept in the loop.
What our partners are doing
Paper made from recycled coffee cups
The paper mill whose paper we use most often, is the James Cropper Paper Mill in Cumbria in the UK's Lake District. They are pioneering new ways to combat waste, or to re-use it. Their pioneering cup-cycling technology takes coffee cups, which used to be notoriously 'impossible' to recycle, and strips out the plastic waterproof lining so that the cups can be recycled. Even the plastic gets put to use, in manufacturing parts for the aeronautical industry. The paper pulp is then used to create a beautiful range of premium coloured papers called Extract. This is what we use on our Flint notebook covers.
Responsible water use
The James Cropper Mill is located on the River Kent in Cumbria. Like most paper mills, it was built there so that the river water can be used in paper production. The pulp must have water added, before it can be mixed and have colours added, before being rolled and pressed into sheets of paper. James Cropper work closely with the UK Environment Agency to ensure that the water they return to the river is 'as clean or cleaner' than it was before. As evidence of just how clean it is: there are fresh water crayfish swimming in it!
Recycling paper dust
Our bindery in Belgium shares our no-tolerance approach to waste, with a state of the art system running throughout the bindery, collecting even the dust generated during the production process. All of this paper dust, and any paper particles or off-cuts, are collected and brought together for recycling.