I was raised not to waste. As a child growing up in the northern New Jersey suburbs, wasting anything was one of the worst things we could do. The ethic of conservation around our house was neatly summed up in the aphorism quoted to me innumerable times by my grandmother and my mother: “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without”.  I also heard, “waste not, want not” more than a few times for good measure. We were the children and grandchildren of the generations that lived through the Great Depression and the hard lessons of that era were drummed into most of us growing up in the 60’s and the 70’s. 

 I don’t believe I owned a pair of “play pants” (as they were quaintly referred to) that didn’t have multiple patches stitched into them by my grandmother and her trusty Singer sewing machine.  When I’d make another hole (we played hard back then!) I’d just get another patch. It was no big deal and nothing embarrassing to me.  And we weren’t poor, by the way.  We lived in a small but comfortable single family home in a solidly middle class neighborhood.

Can you imagine someone these days doing that?  Now there are many reasons why you see very few patched pants on kids today.  Probably the biggest one is that the general level of affluence in society among all economic groups is greater than it was 50 years ago.  There’s less of a need to patch pants when you can afford to just buy a new pair for a reasonable price.  Another factor is personnel-related. How many families have an in-house grandma who’s got the time, skill, equipment and willingness to do it?

 Today the cultural ethic of conservation and recycling has mostly become the province of environmentalism. I have mixed feelings about this development. On the one hand I think it’s good to carry on the traditions of frugality regardless of the rationale. But I tend to look at these things more from a moral perspective rather than just a “green” perspective. The two are not always in synch. But, that’s a topic for another day!

What I’ve been leading up to here is that it’s good to recycle and reuse. At Elite, we have come up with a way to allow you to reuse your bubble envelopes while still having it your way.  The answer is our Smart Bubble ™ product.  Like all good ideas, it’s very simple. We print you an envelope in however many colors you want, with as much coverage as you’d like and we provide it with a removable bubble sleeve.  We can do these in small quantities with the same quick turnaround we provide on just about everything we make.  The removable sleeve can be re used or recycled.  Sometimes it’s good to have the item that’s been shipped stored in the same protective packaging once it’s removed.  Or you can use the liner to send something else or add protection to something you’re shipping in a box. Or, as I saw elsewhere, you can use them to protect your knees when you're gardening! (and avoid knee patches)

 With Elite’s Smart Bubble™ envelope, you can have your favorite design and ship it too.  (Patches not included!)