Ashland, VA — Ashland’s We Think In Ink is taking recycling to the next step. They’ve begun an effort to nullify their paper consumption by replenishing Virginia’s
forests.

“Most printers recycle their waste, but we wanted to replant the trees that come down to make the paper we use,” said Chip Tompkins, the shop’s owner.

Tompkins has already purchased 20,000 trees from the Virginia Department of Forestry. He’s donated them to the Virginia 4-H club to help restore Virginia’s Watersheds. He also distributed saplings to his major vendors and clients, so they too can join the treeplanting effort.

Eventually, Tompkins would like to make his business carbon neutral. But the more trees he can plant in the meantime, the better.

“We want to promote environmental and corporate responsibility,” he said. Tompkins said he started thinking about recycling while working as Chairman of the Retail Merchant’s Association Retailers For Life program, which educates the public about the importance of organ donation.

Retailers For Life has converted 3,500 Virginians into new organ donors over the past two years, in one of the most successful efforts of its kind nationwide.

“Organ donation is truly the ultimate recycling program,” Tompkins said. “It made me stop and think about how I can incorporate that type of mission in my own life and in my business.”