In my opinion, to make Postcrossing a greener hobby, it would be necessary to minimize the use of decorative tapes on postcards. In fact, I think many people overuse it even when it isn’t necessary. For example, in many postcards, the name, address and other contact details of the company that produced them are written vertically in the central space between the text and the recipient’s address. Many people use the tapes to cover those written by decorating the postcard which can become even more beautiful from an aesthetic point of view but which certainly becomes less green from the point of view of environmental sustainability.
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I believe this is what most people are talking about I absolutely love doing this because the cardboard is not going into the dump. I get catalog in the mail so cut and paste decorated my way yet I have sent them the way they were I send these overseas though
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I don’t own a car, so I walk, bicycle or take transit everywhere, including the post office 
and I use fountain pens and refillable pens whenever possible. Speaking of power sources, we have one electricity utility in my province (B.C.) and 97% of the power it generates is from clean, renewable resources, primarily hydroelectric. So that part is not too bad.
People in Canada can buy a prepaid postcard from Canada Post for the cost of an international stamp - so there’s a saving of both money (additional cost of a card) and paper (no separate stamp). The cards feature Canadian landscapes and are quite beautiful. Of course I don’t send these to people who explicitly want stamps, but most people like getting them.
Also, I regularly buy vintage postcards from thrift shops: it helps the charity or non-profit, it minimizes consumption and waste, is less expensive (usually), and there is great variety of subject matter!
Re: wrapping objects, I took a leaf from Japanese traditional culture and use furoshiki – Japanese wrapping cloths – as gift wrap. These are reusable square wrapping cloths (often made of cotton, but other fabrics used include silk, rayon and nylon). But you don’t have to buy Japanese furoshiki! Any square scarf or piece of fabric will do, provided it’s large enough; a square silk scarf is perfect. And YouTube is full of videos explaining how to fold the fabric for different types of wraps. You literally need nothing other than the piece of cloth.
Here’s an example of a display table I made with furoshiki for a church thrift shop:
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I used glue for the sides and double tape on the top cover. Our postal stamp creates some sort of emboss on the mail, so I usually ask our postmaster to stamp my (empty) envelope first, then put in the content and close it. Thus I need the double tape so I can close the envelope easily without having to bring and use glue. Otherwise I would just use glue for all sides. May I ask what difference does that make? Is there anything that I need to take into consideration?
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Atleast your using soap… imagine if everyone stopped buying liquid soap in plastic containers and shampoo/conditioner/washing liquid etc. Yes I’m sure there is lots we can do to improve before worrying too much about postcards x
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No just want to do the same.
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Me and many other Finnish postcrossers have found it useful to write in some local Facebook groups that if someone has unused cards they don’t need, we would like to give them a new home. I personally have received a lot of cards this way - also my friends know that when they clean up their cabins and find stacks of unused cards, they can give them to me. Everyone wins - the person gets rid of the cards they do not need, I get cards I can use and the Earth wins as these already produced items are used instead of companies needing to produce new items. I guess this can be adapted almost anywhere!
Also making cards by getting the front part of a greeting card or using parts of used cards to make handmade cards are funny and easy ways to make “greener” cards.
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Washi tape is paper/biodegradable
I am an environment enthusiast. I am doing my best to preserve nature. Today is “International Day of Forests”, I would like to share with you all. Even one of you plants a sapling or donate to your local NGOs working towards the betterment of the forest, will create a huge difference.
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recently, I have been increasingly visited by thoughts “is it possible to decorate postcards eco-friendly?”. The remnants of adhesive tape, stickers cannot be recycled (in most cases). And buying specially scrapbooking paper seems unethical to me. Now I try to decorate with drawings or watercolors.
But what do you think about it?
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Using rubber stamps (and optional: colouring them) or handlettering would be other ways for decorations. Instead of scrapbooking paper, one may use old books, magazines that would be trashed otherwise (but then still there is the glue that’s needed).
Personally I use all kind of decorations as they bring me so much joy. Most people keep their cards for a long time, so it’s not short time use than waste.
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Hello @Koishiteru and welcome to the forum! 
I moved your topic to the Towards a greener planet topic. There’s a lot of information already shared that you might find useful. 
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Yes, that’s definitely better than tape and stickers
Myself I often sign off with a “stamp” showing my avatar and postcrossing nick. But I resisted the temptation to get myself a rubber stamp - instead I draw it by hand every time, which is both more personal and more eco-friendly:
Another eco-friendly thing I do is to buy old cards, online or at flea markets. That way I both avoid those old cards going to waste, and I don’t cause demand for more postcards to be printed 
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@Koishiteru I cut out little images from magazines, advertising, wrapping paper etc. that I would otherwise throw away. Sometimes, they make excellent stickers. You only need scissors and glue and a little patience because choosing, cutting and gluing definitely takes longer than simply using bought stickers. As far as I know, the glue is water-soluble so they should be recyclable, too, depending on the used material. 
Example: I made this one today. The card is decorated with an old card game with too many missing pieces, a dust cover and my own artwork from elementary school.
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@Koishiteru You can use paper stickers and not plastic i found it often. Or you can decorate with Gift ribbon what was used for gifts before. So it is recycling. If you unpack the gifts some parts of the ribbon are usable again. You can buy sticky paper without plastic and draw or print stickers selfe. Some times you can use steam to put of old stickers and use them again. You can buy paper postfards without plastic foil. You can cut out nice pictures from newspaper use tham as stickers. You can do selfmade postcards with recycling things. You can find many ideas. If some one likes food packed cards use old food packeds. I have cut out flowers from old clothes. They look so nice. Some peoples ask me where i can buy. Use a fountain pen with ink tank you can refil. And if you need glue some thing google flower glue. You can cook selfe. They are so many posibilitys
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Like a few people have said, I try to not create any demand for new postcards (that I send) by buying unused postcards from other people who have them just sitting around. Just like going to a used clothing shop to avoid producing new clothes, etc, I am hoping that I don’t create demand for new postcards and therefore those new postcards aren’t produced. I do the same with stamps (buy unused vintage stamps from dealers) but I haven’t thought about stickers yet… There’s always room for improvements! 
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I would like to point out two things.
One idea I read on the profile of a postcrossing member. If you have any packaging that is made out of cardboard you can cut it into postcard size. So you also can choose some motifs that include some words in your language.
In my case I cut a postcard out of a gingerbread package. good postcard for christmas time:-)
Second idea: don´t use air male. Even if your card goes to another continent. Of course this takes more time. But referring to carbon dioxide emissions postal travelling by ship, train or truck is much better than a flight. In general I cannot understand (at least for messages that are not urgent) why packages, letters and so on are transported by planes.
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Not possible here. All international post is automatically labelled as priority. It’s up to the postal company how they will transport the actual mail - I, as the client, have no choice in the matter or any influence over this.
Also not possible in australia, all our mail is airmail apparently - the airmail stickers are no longer a thing.
But, what I do is I thrift a lot of my cards/envelopes, I ADORE looking at thrift stores so one more category to snoop at is never a bad thing for me 
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