Beacon Press, the Sussex-based print firm famous for its use of eco-friendly technology, has been using the ultimate recyclable material.

The company, which has won awards for its green policies, is used to customers specifying materials but staff were surprised by a Japanese customer's request.

The job called for the use of paper so green it could be planted - and come up again as a flower garden!

It was part of a contract awarded by the London-based creative consultancy Wonderworks which had designed a unique promotional scheme for Yamanouchi, a Japanese pharmaceutical company.

As well as producing brochures and leaflets, Beacon was asked to supply thousands of small discs made from a special paper impregnated with wild flower seeds.

When planted, each seed paper acts like a mulch to retain moisture for the seeds.

Delegates visiting the Yamanouchi stand at the recent World Congress of Lung Health in Florence were invited to write on a disc what inspired them - whether it be a mountain or a song line.

More than 800 seed paper inspirations were returned to be planted in a special Garden of Inspiration to be built in Berlin in time for this year's European Respiratory Society annual congress.

Beacon Press chairman Mark Fairbrass said: "Given the amount of litter about, perhaps the food industry could use it for their packaging. It would transform our verges and hedgerows."