Announcing the DK Solutions Annual Tree Planting Program

Here at DK Solutions, our cutting-edge data modeling means you pay for fewer, but more highly responsive mailers. However we still print and send millions of advertisements each year. That means we use quite a lot of paper. And since we care about the environment, we’re doing something about that.

Introducing: The annual DK Solutions Tree Planting Program, which gives our company a net positive environmental impact.

Here’s why – and how – we do it.

What Will the DK Solutions Tree Planting Program Entail?

At the end of every year, DK Solutions will calculate its total paper usage. We consider factors such as cardstock, the number of mailers we print, and the size of our mailers. Once we use these figures to determine our total paper usage, we convert that figure to the number of trees that were cut down to make our mailers.

And here’s the thing: We won’t just return that exact number of trees to the earth – we’ll triple it.

At DK Solutions, if we’re going to use precious environmental resources, we’re going to give them back and then some.

Our initial planting, which covered trees cut down and turned to mailers through 2021, planted 3,000 trees. We decided on 3,000 trees since our paper usage throughout last year was equivalent to chopping down an estimated 1,000 trees. Since we believe in not just replacing what we’ve used but adding back more than what was there, we tripled that amount.

“Planting one tree gets us back to a net-zero impact, but we’re not really too excited by the concept of just getting back to nothing,” said Liran Kapoano, DK Solutions co-founder and chief operating officer, upon announcing the program. “By making an impact three times what we would give, we’re making up for what we’re cutting down while improving our company’s carbon footprint and contributing to the health of the earth.”

Related: Building Sustainable Solutions for Our Planet

Why a Tree Planting Program?

When we learned that paper manufacturers chop down more than 15 billion trees per year to create paper, we realized: We’re part of that demand. Even though our TargetList approach reduces the amount mail sent by focusing only on the prospects who are most likely to respond and turn into customers, we still are in the business of cutting down trees in order to sell our clients’ products.

Not to mention the fact that forests are beautiful! So we felt that it was on us to replace the trees we used – and then plant even more. 

“Recently I had to take down some trees that were leaning up against my house and being confronted with what that actually looks like first hand didn’t feel that great,” Kapoano said. Especially once he realized that this had to happen hundreds of times every year, all in the name of his company.

Notably, he’s visited dozens of North American national forests and international nature preserves. Coincidentally, one of the forests he’s visited – Flathead National Forest, in Montata

— is where we are planting our first trees.

To find the right location for our trees, we turned to our partner in this initiative. We chose to work with the 501(c)3 environmental nonprofit One Tree Planted since it’s well-known for its deforestation efforts. Plus, the folks there planted our trees and will continually update us on their impact, and that means a lot to us.

Sustainability is important for the future, and through this partnership with One Tree Planted, we’ll know precisely how we’re positively impacting our environment.

Liran Kapoano