Hallmark - the “when you care, send the very best” folks - have come up with a new twist on wrapping paper! Now it’s self-adhesive. Yup, no need for tape, string, or ribbons; just peel off a sheet and wrap it around anything.

The last time you tried to wrap a bicycle? Or was it the first and only time? With this kind of paper you just overlap the sheets and they will stick to each other and the seat, handlebars, or tires to create a (more or less) neat package.

That’s the good news.
Now for the bad news.

While chemists around the world are hot on the trail of an adhesive that is recyclable and/or biodegradable, it isn’t here yet. Unfortunately, here we have a non-recyclable gift wrap that will be used once (only our grandmothers saved gift wrap for reuse) and then tossed.

I had hoped that a large company like Hallmark would have discovered a new adhesive, so I called up their PR people and asked. Nope - a very nice woman told me - not recyclable. But, I was told,

It IS printed on Forest Stewardship Council Certified paper!

Gosh! Wow! Wait… Doesn’t that just begin to hint of green washing?

What it does tell me is that all the hurry become “green” and to use certified papers means nothing if the end product is wasteful, useless, or contradictory to the purpose - all signs of green washing.

Thanks, Hallmark, I think I’ll pass.

(Note: I don’t believe 3M has anything to do with this project.)