An appalling use of billboard vinyl, time and resource comes ironically from a couple of energy companies. TRU Energy and Energy Australia (see for yourself). There is a certain irony here. Vinyl used to produce outdoor skins is highly toxic at the manufacturing stage producing foul emmissions to make kyoto blush with a half life of thousands of years.
There are part solutions but there is light at the end of the tunnel with BIOflex a fully degradable PVC good for about 12 months…long enough. So please, anyone commissioning the production of outdoor skins, enquire as to the type of vinyl and also the printing process. Go with UV ink (90% makes its way onto the vinyl) NOT solvent ink (90% makes its way into the atmosphere).
BIOflex will cost about 20% more but it’s the least we can do. Do it.
Nice post Martyn.
We @ haul are working with some companies now to print on Bioflex with a view to making some products post lifespan.
Some are keen, some @ this stage aren’t interested in paying the extra 20-25% to print on this product.
The beat goes on.
Scott
by Scott Kilmartin on May 28th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Martyn,
Loved your email. At Adshel we have a “Green Commitee” where we look at making our business more environmentally friendly. Whether it be our using solar to power our shelters (which is currently being rolled out), recycling glass & aluminium from infastructure or cutting back on water use when cleaning our shelters. We are working on poster recycling as a priority & our production department has already looked at BIOflex as an alternative. An initiative we have completed recently is re-using our posters by turning them into folders for schools (so kids can carry their books & paperwork around in) All in all it is a long process but one we are determined to succeed in - Feel free to give me a call if you want any info or some recycled folders for the office! Alex Kerley
by Alex Kerley on May 29th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Great Work Martyn! It’s actually 100% of UV inks which remain stable on the billboard while being cured, creating no green house emissions!! Cactus Imaging has created its own green arm called BioCactus which has contributed to the creation & distribution of biodegradable substrates throughout Australia. Rather than taking 40,000 years to decompose, billboards will start to breakdown after 1-2!! Furthermore, Cactus prides itself on using bright, vibrant, environmentally friendly UV inks!!
I totally agree with your comments about clients not utilizing outdoor probably, that is why it is great to see companies like Seek gather for their simple, effective & eye catching use of the medium.
by Olivia Garvey on June 18th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
The Bioflex idea is great in concept, but wouldn’t it be a little more sensible to actually, recycle the used printed banners than continue throwing our waste into landfills?
I’m not sure “cradle to landfill” would be considered “eco-friendly”, let’s think this all the way through before declaring any plastic dumped into a landfill as being environmentally sound.
Jack Swanson - Huntington Beach, CA
by jackswanson on September 19th, 2008 at 9:58 am