idsgn (a design blog)

The United States Business Card Company hand-prints business cards on a variety of unique material. Since today is Earth Day, we are going to focus on one of the most unique of them all: recycled breakfast cereal boxes.

Photo from Flickr by Chris Toumanian

Richard Meneely, the man behind the USBCC, has been operating a hand letterpress since 1986 using metal type and photopolymer plates.

Printing the old fashioned way... using the same printing method since the invention of moveable type in the 15th century... It works like this: rubber rollers apply ink onto the metal type which is in the press. The moving plate then presses the paper against the inked metal type. Voila! A finished piece. I can print 100 cards in 10 minutes this way.

Richard collects the recycled cereal boxes from a school and a 150 member choral group in New York City, which are precision cut to standard business card size before being individually printed. Despite being printed on cardboard, the cards come out top quality with an old-fashioned aesthetic to them. Prices vary from $125 - $150 for 200, depending on the type. For an in-depth look on the cereal box cards, check out the review at Green Gear. In addition to cereal boxes, Richard also prints on real wood, textured recycled paper, and a variety of custom stock.

Besides operating the USBCC, Richard also teaches letterpress classes in New Jersey and is renowned as the on-the-spot letterpress printer at Manhattan's Upper West Side flea market.

 

Other earth-friendly cards

Here are some other unique recycled business cards i've came across.

Comic books:

Magazines and newspaper:

Scraps of art paper:

NYC Metrocards:

And some less professional (but interesting) ones...

Greeting cards:

Second hand business cards:

Playing cards: