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Toeing the green line
Neschen is one company which has worked hard to ensure its substrate range keeps up with customers' green requirements. Head of marketing and communications, Frank Seemann, says the company consistently uses green production processes and materials as the Pro Nature product line demonstrates.
He said: "Pro Nature products are subjected to stringent internal checks and quality controls. The materials are made of environmentally and resource-friendly materials, one of which is cotton, which is becoming increasingly popular, particularly in interior graphic design.
"Corn is another new trend with Neschen offering a digital print media made entirely of corn starch. When printed with eco inks made of the renewable primary material corn starch, entirely new environmentally-friendly advertising materials are created. What is more, they are completely biodegradable."
Both corn and cotton are renewable natural materials and no finite fossil fuels are required. Even synthetic materials or plastics manufactured from oil, however, can be produced sustainably. One example is the polyolefin group (PO.) These include several well-known materials, including polypropylene (PP), which Neschen uses as a basic material in banner production.
This synthetic material has a simple structure, containing only carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). During combustion of the raw material or the PP film, only water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2) are emitted as waste products, with cleaning and filter systems to further minimise emissions. This is a major difference compared to other synthetics and plastics that have to be specially disposed of and are often harmful to the environment.
National sales manager at Neschen UK, Sarah Janes, said: "Users are more environmentally aware these days and are asking for 'green' substrates. They are looking to produce work which is not based on traditional PVC banners. Consequently, we are seeing a lot of interest in our organic textiles substrates made from cotton and corn."
Assess the alternatives
The move towards providing a green alternative is spreading throughout the industry with companies looking to provide products which meet the requirements of their customers while at the same time provide a green alternative. Regional sales manager UK and Ireland at Seal Graphics, Andrew East, said: "Almost every major retailer, signmaker and graphics house is looking for greener alternatives to traditional materials. Users are taking to both polyester and natural fibre textiles for use with greener inks.
"Many, however, are still looking for the familiar behavioural characteristics of PVC, which is not always possible. Nor is it possible to offer such bio-degradable substrates for the price of PVC. It seems that a lot of users are willing to pay a premium of around 10-15% over the price of PVC but this is unrealistic.
"Another greener alternative to PVC is polypropylene which provides a stable alternative to PVC films and results in less shrinkage."
'Green' wallpapers
Seal has introduced a range of digital wallpapers designed for wide format digital print applications. They consist of a white PVC coating on a woven fabric base and can be used with solvent and eco-solvent, as well as UV-curable, inks. Besides good print quality and long-lasting colours, these digital wallpapers are said to be scratch-resistant and come with a NFPA 701 fire rating.
Four textures are available: soft satin, crushed rock, raw silk and Venetian plaster. For additional protection and longevity in heavy traffic areas, they can be finished with liquid lamination using the range of AquaSeal coaters and liquid laminates.
Environmental encouragement
Customisation is a huge advantage of print, particularly on the high street, where retailers want to keep their displays looking fresh, resulting in a huge amount of wastage. Europoint Display is trying to overcome this by encouraging high street retailers and supermarkets to print their signage, packaging and displays on more environmentally friendly substrates.
The company has developed a boxed swatch of alternative, greener media, The EnviroBox, supported by a PC-based calculator to assess the overall environmental impact of substrates. Europoint will use the materials to encourage retailers, designers and printers to lower their environmental impact.
Each box contains a selection of products for banners, self-adhesives for windows, rigid sheets and films that can replace PVC-based products but are less harmful to the environment. It also contains less harmful versions of existing products, such as a foam PVC substrate that is made almost entirely from recycled polymer. An environmental report, Plastics in the Environment, is also included.
Based on a spreadsheet format, Europoint's environmental calculator ranks materials on the impact they have throughout their lifecycle, assessing how much energy is needed to produce them, their biodegradability and recyclability. Users are presented with an overall rating for each one, helping them identify suitable alternatives.
Europoint's environmental solutions director, Vic Adie, said: "We found that there's a huge demand from high street retailers keen to reduce their impact on the environment, however, there seems to be confusion regarding the relative environmental merits of substrates. For example, which substrates avoid contributing to landfill? Which substrates use minimum energy and carbon to produce or recycle them?
"Sending materials to landfill is getting increasingly expensive, so apart from the environmental arguments there are sound business reasons driving this trend."
And finally
With so much wastage in the printing industry it is encouraging to see the steps being taken to ensure that not only is an alternative available, but it is an alternative which is just as good as the less environmentally friendly solution.
