We took a look into where the signage industry is at in terms of being a green industry – and we did not like what we saw. Currently, almost 100% of signage ends up in landfills. This includes around 600 tonnes of billboard banner material each year alone. It’s uncertain how much mesh and other signage materials add to this already considerable number. We realised we had to do more to drive change and move towards being more environmentally friendly as a business and as an industry.
It’s not just the waste we add to landfills; carbon emissions also have a detrimental impact on the environment. Energy consumption, including electricity and transportation, are amongst the biggest contributors to harmful emissions. This provides a huge challenge due to the nature of the signage industry: printing and delivering to customers country-wide.
Mesh Direct have already started extensive research into becoming green and have begun the #ThinkGreenDoGreen campaign to drive change within the business and signage industry as a whole. We have been asking questions and engaging in challenging conversations with organisations to help us find out more about the subject, including working closely with the Vinyl Council of Australia. They are collaborating with us on a number of new initiatives
Steps we are taking to lead the way include some short term green solutions and our long term green goals, as below:
Achieved by offsetting our emissions. This is the action or process of compensating for carbon dioxide emissions by making equivalent reductions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. We would do this by:
Not only that, we have new sustainable signage options we have added to our range.
Sustainable signage options include:
– EcoBoard: A biodegradable alternative to traditional corflute.
– EcoVinyl Billboards: A 100% recyclable billboard skin.
– Banner Toggles: A reusable alternative to traditional cable ties.
Recycling collection scheme
We are having conversations and putting plans in place to see whether we can set up a recycling collection scheme. This would involve stakeholders returning our products to a central place. From there we hope to reuse and repurpose signage.
More Recycling and reusing
We are working with the Australian Vinyl Council on a business case for producing tiles for building materials made from old vinyl banners. Repurposing vinyl would help to dramatically reduce our waste.
We are exploring repurposing vinyl and mesh on a commercial level.
We are looking at our own product made from recycled material with technology from the Philippines.
Interested in our signage products? Answer a few short questions and we’ll get in touch with you!
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