A common term in the trade-show world is ‘leave-behind–‘  that little item that will help people remember your name long after the expo floor has cleared.

The trouble is, we live in a world in which waste is piling up so fast plastic islands have formed, and  California’s dry spots in the water supply can be seen from space.

We all need to reduce our accumulation of stuff and our over-use of resources. We need to live greener, with responsible habits and homes, and the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is where building professionals go to learn how to create houses that can help us.

The world’s largest conference and expo dedicated to green building, Greenbuild is a U.S. Green Building Council event and the go-to show for sustainable building products and practices. If ever there was a place where unnecessary chotchkes and swag were frowned upon, this is it. These people are serious about cleaning up our collective, human act.

When it comes to us and tradeshows though, leave-behinds are kind of our thing. We make stuff that people leave on their office desks and bookshelves for years, and yeah, we put our name all over it. To paraphrase Arlo Guthrie, we’re not proud. Or tired.

This year at Greenbuild, we wanted to both highlight our understanding of the green building market and reflect the core values of the green movement. That meant no inappropriate paper waste.

The solution? Seed inclusion paper, which is infused with a variety of wildflower seeds ranging from Baby Blue Eyes to Spurred Snapdragons. It’s an easy answer that was simple to arrange; our Leaf–Behind features a QR code that links to a portfolio of selected work and contact information for our VP Cheryl, who was in the aisles with a veritable formal garden’s worth of would-be blooms.

After the show, recipients can soak them in water, plant, and wait for the growing to begin. It’ll be a shame to see our pithy design and words of whimsy go underground, but we’re always around if you’d like to see more.