Like most businesses, ours is encouraged to find ways to make a positive contribution to sustainability and the environment. According to a worldwide network initiative, the brief was to do exactly that - simply, efficiently and cost-effectively.

In advertising agencies, huge amounts of printouts are made every day. But usually only one side of the paper is used, which means half of it is wasted. The design solution was therefore entirely pragmatic: collect those discarded printouts and then bind them, un-used side up, to make functional notepads. In this way, we embrace the principles of re-use, reduce, recycle. The only additional materials used were paper for the covers, glue to bind them and a small amount of ink to print them.

The notepads were initially meant for internal use. But clients and acquaintances, impressed by both the simplicity and aesthetics, quickly noticed them and continually ask for them. They show the notepads to their colleagues and friends and interest has grown. Although the demand is higher than we first expected, we have not had to buy new notepads since we started making these.