Botanical PaperWorks is a world-leading producer of seed paper, a special eco-friendly paper embedded with seeds that grow wildflowers, herbs or vegetables. We love their unique solution to the problem of paper waste, and wanted to learn more about how they came to be.
We chatted with co-founder and CEO Heidi Reimer-Epp about her Winnipeg-based business to learn more about this innovative product!
Tell us about the “seed” for Botanical PaperWorks – how did the idea and the business come to be?
Botanical PaperWorks started back in the late-90s. I was working in marketing and business development, and my mom was a teacher who saw a lot of paper waste in schools and was looking for ways to reuse it. This was a time before recycling, reducing, and reusing, and she became fed up with the mountains of paper that her students discarded, mostly unused. She looked for ways to reuse it and figured out she could use the waste to make new handmade paper. The kids loved making the paper and binding the finished sheets into books they could fill with creative writings and stories.
Around that time, I got engaged and asked my Mom to create my wedding programs with handmade paper. They turned out beautifully, and our guests asked where they were from. This made us think that maybe there was a business opportunity to launch a company that specialized in handmade papers inspired by the Prairies where we live. After doing some test marketing, we launched Botanical PaperWorks in 1997 as a handmade paper company specializing in special event stationery.
The seed paper idea came some years later when we were writing the first of our three craft books, called 300 Papermaking Recipes. We stumbled on the idea while working on the chapters with plants and flowers. Seed paper seemed like a great idea, and we took the next three years to commercialize it. Eventually, the seed paper sales grew into our largest segment, so in the early 2000s, we rebranded as a seed paper company.
From those early days, we’ve grown into a company specializing in manufacturing beautiful, sustainable products – seed paper, handmade soaps and reclaimed pallet wood products.
We love how innovative the product is! Can you tell us more about how it works?
Thank you! Botanical PaperWorks’ seed paper starts with waste paper that we collect from local organizations. We take the waste paper, including envelope cuttings and printer paper, and create a pulp. Into the pulp, we incorporate the seeds and then form them into sheets. Once the sheets have been dried in our special drying chamber, the sheets are ready to be printed, cut and turned into beautiful products.
Here’s how it works for planting: when you’re done with the item, say a business card, a bookmark or a greeting card, you simply place it in a pot of soil and cover it lightly with 1 or 2 mm of quality potting soil. Soak it with water and then place the pot in a sunny spot. Keep the paper and soil moist to promote germination. In a couple of weeks, sprouts will appear, then grow into strong, beautiful wildflower plants. The paper pulp will compost away, leaving no waste behind, just colourful flowers and leafy green plants!
We love seed paper because it’s made from waste, it composts away and leaves no waste, and it grows flowers and plants that provide important habitats for bees and pollinating insects.
What does sustainability mean to you?
I like the UN’s 1987 definition of sustainability, which is “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” For me, that means running Botanical PaperWorks in ways that balance and overlap the three pillars of the environment, economy and society.
How do we overlap? It happens with Botanical PaperWorks products themselves. We know that organizations need to promote themselves to their stakeholders. So we develop products that give those organizations a good-for-the-environment way of marketing, like our seed paper and handmade soaps. We take our mission to “Leave the Earth a better place” and overlap that with the customer’s need for sustainable products, and at that intersection, we partner together to do good.
Also, we have people in our community who need employment, so we use Botanical PaperWorks as a way of providing jobs for newcomers to Canada and people who are looking to re-enter the workforce. We’re overlapping our need for great team members with their need for employment. The individuals, the company, and ultimately the community, all benefit.
Your sustainability ethos extends beyond the paper you produce. Can you tell us about how you build it into every aspect of your business?
Yes, our products themselves are ultimately sustainable, being made from waste and leaving no waste, and then we extended our commitment to sustainability to the entire company.
In manufacturing our products, we look at the whole process and recycle or repurpose much of our waste stream, including recycling water in production, reducing raw material wastage, and repurposing our paper cut-offs as box fillers for packaging.
We are certified with Climate Smart, and each year, we calculate our greenhouse gas emissions, then study the sources and implement a reduction plan. Our team members participate in many programs, including carpooling, cycling and carpooling to work, kitchen food waste composting, annual e-waste collection drives, and recycling of masks, batteries, and printer cartridges.
Botanical PaperWorks partners with other organizations through special products like our Save the Ocean soap, which raised over $1000 in 2022 for Oceana, the largest international advocacy organization focused solely on ocean conservation.
And even with our work to positively impact our environment, we always look for ways to improve. Looking ahead, we are once again auditing our packaging materials to reduce virgin fibre and plastic, and we’re working on getting our B Corp certification, so stay tuned for more!
Has anyone used your products in a particularly unique or creative way?
Absolutely! We work with the most creative distributors in the industry! There’s a campaign running right now for a contractor who buys our handmade (and vegan!) soaps with a seed paper band and gives them as gifts to their new homeowners. It’s the perfect gift to communicate the builder’s commitment to sustainability, and it sets up the new homeowner with a sustainable product.
Also, we made seed paper race medals which was a cool way to avoid adding more plastic and metal to the environment, and those who chose, could plant the medal and have a blooming memento of the race.
For organizations serious about sustainability, there’s no better way to communicate the commitment than by including a seed paper component in their kit or campaign. I love the campaigns that use Botanical PaperWorks’ seed paper and a social media strategy where recipients post photos of their flowers in bloom!
What is your hope for the future of sustainability in our industry?
I hope the world shifts our priorities away from cheap, fast, and quick gratification to quality, sustainability and longevity. From our personal clothing-buying habits to the items we fill our homes with to promotional products, may we choose items that help, not harm, the planet. This is my hope.
