Interview with Rick Smith, Green Field Paper Company

by: Dennis Salazar

28 Jul 2009

Treeless Papers and Much More!

Regular readers of ISP enjoy reading and learning about the interesting people we have encountered in the vast and fast growing green community. One of our favorites is Rick Smith and his Green Field Paper Company. They have received national newspaper and magazine coverage so for Rick to take a few minutes from his busy schedule to chat with us is very much appreciated.

DS: Rick, please give us a little background on you and your company, including how you became interested in treeless and other sustainable papers.

RS: I used to be a bean counter, serving as CFO for several companies with the last few being in the medical device industry.

My entrepreneurial spirit kicked in several years ago and I decided to buy or start a business. I looked at many businesses and in many industries. I believed that, when I identified one that I could be passionate about, I would pour my heart and soul into it.

I credit my wife, a realtor, with finding Green Field. I had all but given up the search when on a whim she searched the multiple listings under business opportunities. She came across a business for sale in “specialty/recycled paper” and a “famous product line”.

We set up an appointment, fell in love with the products, and made an offer. That was in early 2005.

The Company had been around since 1992 and always offered sustainable papers from organic cotton to denim to hemp to handmade using 100% post consumer. The signature paper was Grow A Note® with seeds embedded right in the paper.

DS: I would guess most people don’t even realize the treeless paper options available. Can you please give us a quick recap?

RS: Tree free paper as defined is paper made with no virgin wood pulp. Our handmade papers are made from 100% post consumer pulp whereas our Hemp Heritage paper is 25% hemp fiber and 75% post consumer. None of our have dyes nor bleach added.

DS: Your Grow-a-Note Papers were featured in Time Magazine. Can you please tell us more about that particular and unique product?

RS: Our Grow A Note® paper is a hand made paper with seeds embedded. Most of our greeting cards contain a mixture of non-invasive wildflower seeds, we also offer one with catnip seeds and one with miniature sunflowers. After the recipient receives and reads the card, they can tear it up, plant it in the ground and the paper will recycle naturally and it will sprout.

DS: You, your company and your products have earned numerous awards but your 2007 Recycler of the year award presented by the City of San Diego is most unique. Please tell us about that and your other efforts to make your company as green as your products.

RS: We recycle the water used in the production of our handmade back into the paper. We recycle the cutting scrap from our paper back into paper. We purchase wind credits to offset our energy usage. We even use our junk mail to make a paper called 100% Junk Mail.

We even recycled uniforms, normally destroyed at the end of a season, from Sea World and Petco Park into paper. We made bookmarks out of them.

DS: Your products and company were featured in a USA Today article on the topics of “green weddings”. Please tell us a little bit about your role in that growing trend

RS: We offer custom printing on our Grow A Note® paper and our Hemp Heritage® paper. A number of couples are looking for ways to have an “eco-friendly” wedding. Our paper can be a part of that from Save the Dates to Invitations to Programs and wedding favors. We offer our designs, can do custom designs and the printing is done using soy inks. While we offer our Hemp Heritage envelopes, we also have an invitation called the “All-in-One” which has an attached perforated reply cards and folds into itself and is sealed without requiring an envelope.

Our paper is also being used by companies for corporate promotional pieces and for smaller packaging.

DS: Thank you, Rick. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity for our readers to get to know you and I encourage them to visit your website.

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