Pinball Publishing bucks an industry in decline

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With eight employees tucked away on Portland’s eastside, Pinball Publishing is hardly a powerhouse.

But the eight-year-old company has, from its founding, incorporated a sustainable approach to a notoriously wasteful industry.

Pinball has quietly posted between 10 percent and 60 percent sales growth every year, despite a flagging economy that took down much larger operations. The company hopes to surpass $1 million in sales this year.

InfoTrends, a printing industry research firm, released a report in January showing that, despite an apparent recovery in the U.S. economy, the country’s printing industry would remain in decline through 2013 due largely to the continued rise of the Internet.

But environmentally friendly printing is a rising trend with companies looking to show off their eco-credibility by printing exclusively on recycled or Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper.

For Laura and Austin Whipple, the husband-wife team that owns Pinball, sourcing recycled paper and other eco-friendly supplies continues to be a mixed bag.

“On the one hand we’ve gained some purchasing power as our volumes have increased,” Laura Whipple said. “But on the other hand, paper mills keep going out of business.”

Pinball Publishing is launching a marketing blitz around one of its flagship products, the Scout Book.

Scout books are pocket-sized notebooks — the paper kind — decked out with clever graphic covers, fully customized and printed with soy-based ink.

The idea is simple and so is the product. Pinball designed the books so their 32 pages come from one press sheet — no waste. The cover is chip-board, a 100 percent recycled product from a mill in Washington that is usually used in packaging.

First introduced last year, Scout Books have taken on a life of their own with various customers customizing them to suit their needs. Stumptown Coffee Roasters printed a detailed marketing brochure in a customized Scout Book. A collective of home brewers printed up a beer-tasting notebook.

Pinball is looking to capitalize on some of that energy by launching a dedicated Scout Books Web site and featuring the designs of local artists.

“We think the tactile notebook is a complement to the iPhone age,” Laura Whipple said.