Gold Coast-based trade printer IBS Cards will plant a tree for every order of 1000 plus business cards it receives in a bid to help the country rebuild after the devastating bushfires.
The initiative comes as hundreds of bushfires continue to burn across Australia with millions of hectares of land razed, 24 lives claimed so far and half a billion animals obliterated.
Using the hashtag #RebuildingOurIslandHome, IBS hopes the initiative will take hold and spread to other businesses to help the landscape repair one tree at a time.
“As individuals we’ve donated money and supplies, but as a business we wanted to do more. As a trade printer, we can help make an impact quickly with a message that extends beyond our reach, and onto yours,” IBS chief marketing officer Natalie McCauley said. 
“Between us, we have access to thousands of Australians to truly do something meaningful and make a difference. At the moment, media coverage for this climate emergency is at an all time high, but when the fires slow down, the coverage will too, and for many Australians, that will just be the beginning of a long journey to rebuild.
“We won’t be feeling the effects of these fires for months, we’ll be feeling these effects for years, and so we put our heads together to come up with an initiative that would keep on giving, not just for the month of January, but for the forseeable future.”
The way the initiative works is each time an order for over a thousand business cards comes in, IBS will in turn have one tree planted. An email with an e-card will be sent to each client from a third party weekly advising that the tree has been donated on their client’s behalf.
“Once a week we’ll email you an e-card from a third party for each tree that has been donated on your clients behalf. Each card will say it’s from you to your client (we’ll use the name you put on the job), and can easily be forwarded to let them know that their purchase has made a difference,” McCauley said.
IBS is also certified in Sustainable Green Printing, a certification program run by the Print and Visual Communication Association (PVCA). As part of this certification IBS must comply with key environmental laws, manage its environmental risk, document environmental actions and undertake internal audits to manage its Environmental Management System.
The printer also uses Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified Papers.
Its waterless offset presses also eliminate the need for not only water but other chemicals traditionally used in the printing process.
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