I was walking along a busy high street a few days ago and passed a retail optician. I didn't need my eyes tested at the time, but the shop did draw my attention: unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

Naturally, with consumers holding their cash tightly, the shop had decided to do some marketing in the form of an A-board in the middle of the pavement. However, the image itself caused some concern due to it comprising a tatty sheet of white paper, taped to the A-board and carrying a poorly hand written message scrawled in black marker pen.

Seven young people have been successful in this year's Print Futures Awards, which is sponsored by the British Printing Industries Federation, Unite the Union and the Printers' Charitable Corporation. The scholarship scheme, now in its sixth year, will help fund the winners' education and training for a career in the UK printing and graphic arts industries. Awards are for £2,500 each, or £1,250 where an applicant is receiving company funded training support.

In an effort to underline its green credentials, NEC display services provider, Melville Graphics,  has enlisted ALD Industry to dispose of its reinforced and unreinforced PVC banner material.

Signs and graphics manufacturer, Signs Express, has opened a new production centre in Mullingar, Ireland to service companies large and small across Roscommon, Longford, Athlone and the surrounding areas.

Made to giant proportions, the larger of the two replica shirts measured 18  by 15.5m, with the second shirt measuring 7.4 by 6.45m. Both shirts were taken on a promotional tour of the UK by HSBC, the sponsors of the British Lions, before being sent out for a further promotional tour in South Africa. At the end of the tour, the garments were then handed over to the British Lions team itself.

A steady business with satisfied clients and a growing order book is something to be proud of in today's economic climate. One company with a healthy order book is Stevensons Advertising Plastics, a supplier of screen printing services for ultrasonic welded plastic products.

Customised presentation, packaging and stationery specialist, Duraweld, has launched a new range of funky binders for school, college or the office. Eight colours are available, each named after a different fruit: Red Apple, Satsuma, Lemon and Lime, Clementine, Cherry, Blackberry, Plum and Raspberry.

More than 250m2 of fine art prints were produced using a Mutoh Zephyr UV printer as part of the Theatre at the Seaside festival in Oostende. Each of the 50 photographs was printed directly onto wide format PVC foam board panels and exhibited along the seaside.

Plans are underway to restructure Altuglas International's PMMA sheet business in Europe in a bid to optimise logistics and reduce delivery times.

A campaign has been launched by the plastics industry challenging itself, government and consumers to step up recycling and stop sending plastic to landfill.

As part of the Plastics 2020 Challenge, the industry is pledging several commitments on the four R's - reduce, reuse, recycle and recover - including doubling the recycling rate of plastic packaging by the year 2020.

Bagasse is a new eco-friendly, recyclable grade product from Papeterie Zuber Rieder. The range is suitable for luxury packaging, greetings cards, business cards, invitations, annual reports and advertising purposes and is available in the UK from Papico.

Participants and speakers at the Vinyl 2010 conference, titled 'Talking Sustainability for Business,' agreed that the organisation's sustainability targets are a great example of self-regulation, as well as being in line with European Union policy on reducing emissions and lowering energy consumption. The organisation is also making progress in its recycling programme, as well as encouraging the reduction of hazardous additives beyond legal requirements.

Apprentices in the paper and board manufacturing industry can now participate in an approved National Qualifications Framework, developed by sector skills council for the process and manufacturing sector, Proskills, and the newly formed Qualifications Reform Group (QRG).

Printers and copy shops can now reinforce customer relationships and protect printed goods with a new range of postal tubes from Rose Plastic.

The tubes, which are available in a range of sizes, have a 50/50 split, so contents can be removed without damage. They are transparent so contents are immediately visible, but can also be supplied in a range of colours or customised with corporate logos.

Spartanics' Finecut Combination model laser die cutting machine boasts a variety of flexibility-focused design features designed to give plastics decorators the versatility to survive and thrive.

Advertising and fashion photographer, Miquel González, believes in using the right proofing equipment, as he demonstrated in a recent job when he shot a series of 11 photographs for a fashion publication. After the shoot, Miquel retouched the images digitally, accentuating the lighting before producing proof prints to show his client.

Pre-treating garments for direct-to-product ink jet printing has thus far been an inexact science. Your Embroidery Services aims to make it more efficient and profitable with the DTG PreJet

Direct to product ink jet printing is still a fairly new industry and yet it has already seen major developments in printing technique. More recently garment preparation has taken centre stage with an updated pre-treatment process, designed to be more efficient and profitable.

Manufacturer of self-adhesive vinyl, Hexis, has launched a new printable cast vinyl film for wall graphics. The VCSR100WG1 is designed for direct application onto brick, concrete or plaster walls.

Large format distributor, ArtSystems, introduces the Sustain range to its growing Xativa portfolio of environmental media. This FSC and PEFC certified, sustainable media, was named to reflect its ethical values.

Following the success of its 80µm film, Seal Graphics has launched a 100µm gloss vinyl for eco-solvent and UV-curable inks. Said to be even easier than its predecessor to apply, Solvent Eco Vinyl Gloss 100 is a 100µm white, monomeric vinyl suitable for use with eco-solvent, solvent and UV-curable inks with a gloss finish and a permanent transparent adhesive.

Océ introduces a new large format monochrome printer, designed to make it simple for users to print, copy and scan low volumes of technical documents.

The Océ PlotWave 300 prints 2.3 A0s per minute and is available with one or two paper rolls. It is also available as a multifunctional version that has a smaller footprint than its predecessors with the colour scanner stacked on top of the printer rather than located to the side.

Think Vision

Vision Supplies Ltd launched its range ofThink inks a little over 2 years ago, a range of UV process screen printing inks formulated and marketed exclusively by them for the demanding UK market.

The UK market for graphics and point of sale remains one of the most sophisticated in the world; confident in using advanced technology with a cohort of astute clients who are testing graphic solutions providers with every pound they spend. That means that now is the time of opportunity for companies who are positive and pushing hard.