Japan’s oldest newspaper “Mainichi Shimbunsha” has started a revolutionary trend with creating a seed infused newspaper, called the “The Green Newspaper.” The newspaper is made out of recycled paper with flower and herb seeds embedded within the seams. All you have to do is tear it into pieces, plant it and add water, and in a matter of weeks you will have flowers blooming.

The idea started off with Dentsu Inc., one of Japan’s largest advertising agencies that works with Mainichi. The “Green Newspaper” is not their first initiative to create something for environmental sustainability. They previously had a campaign for water donations for populations suffering from thirst. The Mainichi motto is “The Mainichi doesn’t take action only through information, but also by solving global issues.” They believe in taking initiative and responding to the problems they report about.

The paper has had a huge success, with over 400 million copies circulating the country every day. Bringing in revenue of 80 million yen, which equivalent to over $700,000, the paper has even become a way for children to be informed about recycling. The paper has been taken to schools to bring awareness about environmental issues to kids and teach them what they can do about it.

“The Green Newspaper” is an important step in taking initiative to find solutions to solve global environmental problems. The growth of these plants from the newspapers is a starting point to counteract the growing issues involving pollution and waste management in large cities. Planting the papers will help reduce the extreme amount of CO2 emissions created by the waste disposals systems on our planet. Recycling materials, especially paper, is really important and which is why other countries should follow in Japan’s footsteps and implement a newspaper that gives back to the Earth.