One of our core values at Explore is being “responsible in everything we do”, and this needs to run through every decision we make in the brochure process, right down to choosing our suppliers, the glue and the ink.

The brochures and envelopes are printed on responsibly-sourced paper from sustainably-managed forests. We use environmentally friendly water-based glue and plant-based ink, and we don’t use foils or UV finishes. Once finished with, the brochures can be easily recycled (or even better, passed onto a friend).

We mail our brochures in paper envelopes, we’ve removed the film in the window so that it is all plastic free and recyclable. This year we’ve chosen paper envelopes over compostable bags after comparing the energy required in both processes and access to recycling over composting facilities. Each year this decision will be reassessed as technologies advance.

This year our drive to be plastic free continues down the supply chain as our shipments of brochures to our travel agent partners will also be going out in paper or cardboard.

This is the normal way of decarbonising, the ideal way as it allows you to have a starting point and then when you make the reductions you can identify the impact you’ve saved. We’ll do this next year! This year we are doing some of our measurements in hindsight and learning from the process, we have to start somewhere after all. For the measurements where we feel slightly out of our depth (like calculating a carbon footprint of getting the raw materials to the printers for example!), we are working with a carbon consultant for accuracy.

We do know that over the last three years we have dramatically cut back the amount of paper that we use for brochures. Rather than producing five different UK brochures, we now produce three. We have reduced the number of brochures printed by 35% since 2019, and we only send brochures to people who are opted-in for print marketing materials. Customers can opt-out at any time and view a digital brochure instead. We’ve also cut back the number of pages and, where possible, we direct people to the online brochure or our website.