Can money grow on trees?

Nobody wants to see the planet destroyed. If you asked a cross-section of society whether they would like to see global warming reduced, chances are 99 percent (accounting for the odd fatalist) would answer yes.

Yet it is all very well to respond positively to a survey on the street, and a whole different kettle of fish to make actual changes to your everyday life. Most of us manage to use the correct bins and turn the lights off when we leave a room, but what about changes that may actually cost you money? How much would you be willing to shell out in the fight to protect the planet?

When it comes to business, sustainability is always going to take second place to profit. There may be one or two philanthropic businesses out there that will take a pay cut with no ulterior motive other than to defend the environment, but these will be extremely few and far between. For the everyday sign-maker, there needs to be tangible, economic advantages to going green, or else it is just not worth the effort.

Sustainable support

Before we look at eco-friendly practices in business it is important to know exactly what we mean by sustainability. ISO 14001 is the most commonly used international standard for environmental management, designed to help reduce your impact on the planet and streamline your business to eventually improve profitability. Over 250,000 organisations are certified to ISO 14001, and joining their number could be easier than you think.



BSI Group is just one of the many consultancies that are on hand to guide you through the process. A business standards company, BSI helps businesses worldwide improve performance, reduce risk, and achieve sustainable growth. It offers packages that include training courses, resources, and services to help shape your environmental management programme.

Many sign-makers may dismiss this option as too expensive, but BSI provides packages tailored to small- to medium-sized businesses (SMEs). These streamline the services down to include only the exact ones you need, eliminating any unnecessary cost.

If this is still something you would not consider, BSI has a free self-assessment checklist available to download, so you can at least gage how successful your environmental management is currently, and give you an idea of how far you have to go. In addition, the firm has a free SMEs guide to standards that is downloadable, to help you get a greater understanding of how you could benefit from standards.

Saying this, right now may not be the best time to apply for ISO 14001 certification, as it is currently under review. It is, however, the perfect time to begin to look into it, considering the fact that the draft standard will be available in September of this year, giving you the opportunity to comment and help shape it.

All about the image

After looking into how the powers-that-be define a sustainable business, the next step is to identify the practices that will get you there, without needing too many compromises on quality and cost.

There are many different ways of looking at the economic value of going green, and one key school of thought is the impact it will have on your brand image. These days, if you are a large company, it is no longer a string to your bow to have an environmental ethos, it is a must. This means there are many firms out there looking for any way to boost their green profile, and if you can help them with this it is only going to make you a more attractive prospect.

One way to do this is with materials. Andy Voss, managing director of Lintec Graphic Films, delves deeper into this issue, commenting: “There are far-reaching benefits for companies to increase their green credentials. Beyond ethical obligations and operating within the parameters of the law, a considered and thorough environmental company policy, from sourcing and using eco-friendly materials through to efficient waste management, is a cost-effective measure that can play a powerful role defining a company’s image.”



He continues: “A large volume of graphic media is PVC and ends up in landfill, potentially releasing harmful dioxins. However non-PVC products, like Lintec Graphic Films’ Vitrocolour film range, can be used for waste-to-energy because they possess a high calorific value and clean burning characteristics.

“A number of our customers have shown fantastic responsibility by utilising waste-to-energy programmes, run by such companies as London Waste. We’re proud that our products enhance our customer’s service offering while boosting their environ-mental credentials,” Voss concludes.

When examining eco-friendly materials, we cannot, of course, ignore paper. Having received an undeservedly bad reputation in recent years, paper still remains one of the (if not the) greenest option on the market.

Arjowiggins Graphic is one firm committed to the development of environmental paper solutions. Julian Long, national key account manager, explains the benefits of using recycled papers for wide-format printers and sign-makers: “Recycled paper is the greenest option: it uses less energy, water, and produces lower carbon emissions than the manufacturing of non-recycled paper and at the same time reduces the amount of waste going to landfill.”


Indeed Arjowiggins has picked up on the benefits using recycled paper can have for a brand; research the firm conducted in the UK indicates that despite the economy remaining the main issue impacting businesses (67 percent), over a third (37 percent) stated that the environment is currently the biggest challenge.

Long continues: “The demand for environmentally-friendly products will continue to develop and grow in the sign industry, as we have already seen in the graphical and packaging areas. Paper is the clear choice for many, many applications due to its sustain-ability, recyclability, and compostability.

“In tandem we need to see the mind-set and the facilities to recycle signage materials continue to develop and grow as well. This is particularly important as the lifespan of some signs can be relatively short due to the nature of the message thereon. Arjowiggins will continue to work with its partners to develop products to meet the changing demands of the market,” he concludes.

Two sides of the coin

Having an environmental ethos to push to prospective clients is undoubtedly a bonus, especially if they can then include this in their own brand and marketing. Yet is the knowledge of this benefit going to be enough to persuade a small- to medium-sized sign-maker compromise on either quality or cost?

Frank Moran, managing director of PaperlinX Visual Technology Solutions, thinks not, explaining : “Environmental products are part of PaperlinX’s offering and are often sought out both by customers and end-users. However, it’s a fact that very few in the supply chain will compromise on price and performance.



“Many of our long standing traditional products have sound environ-mental credentials, however sometimes this detail is lost in the marketing. For instance, fluted polypropylene, polyester, and acrylic, amongst many others, can all be recycled. The challenge facing whoever deals with the residue when the sign comes out of service is identifying exactly what the material is and who can recycle it.”

According to Moran, there is ‘always a compromise’ when it comes to using recyclable materials; he continues: “Our Plastics for Industry range includes a number of products typically used for shop fit out and signage, and there’s a difference between recycled products and those produced using virgin raw materials, when you consider quality and fit for purpose.



“With clear materials, it’s difficult to get a product with recycled content that performs quite as well as standard products, as even 10 percent of recycled content can make a huge difference to the optical properties. With opaque materials, you can use recycled content more confidently as what’s inside is less important, as long as the material functions suitably for its application.”

O Factoid:  Paper can be recycled up to six time before it loses its essential properties. O

It is not only the performance of eco-products that Moran picks up on, but the cost as well. He continues: “The expectation amongst end-users is almost always that if it is recycled it is cheaper. But that isn’t usually the case. Producing recycled content to be re-used in itself is a costly process and one that is not without risk; care and management of the production process to eliminate potential contamination is expensive.”

Concluding his balanced evaluation, Moran presents a realistic outlook on the current shape of environmental management in the sign industry: “The market is still attempting to embrace the use of green materials over traditional ones, but uptake has been slow and whilst cost and performance remain at odds, there is still a way to go.”


Lighting the way

While in the case of substrates there is still some debate about the quality and cost-effectiveness of environmental alternatives, in the area of lighting there is one clear front-running solution that is simultaneously saving money and the planet. LEDs have eclipsed fluorescent lighting when it comes to illuminating signs, offering a cheaper, easily maintained, and sustainable solution.

Zeta Specialist Lighting is a firm that was set up by two Oxford University lecturers about 25 years ago, after they  developed an LED and solar-powered solution, as sales and marketing director, Adrian Dennis, explains: “Zeta is very much a research and development based company. We combine solar panels, very clever control technology, batteries, our LEDS, and light guide panels to produce solar powered signage.”



He continues: “The fact that our system is LED-based means that if you use it on-grid it uses about 80 percent less power than a conventional system. But equally, maintenance is a huge part of it. The average life of LEDs is around 40,000 hours. Fluorescent tubes fail regularly, so switching to LEDs significantly reduces power levels and maintenance costs as well.


“But the big news is when we combine our LED lighting with solar power—where on-grid it saves 80 per-cent, with solar power it costs nothing.”

Zeta recently completed an installation at Liverpool One and the Pier Head on the Liverpool waterfront, using its solar-powered, LED lighting solution. Dennis continues: “Here, the big saving was on the installation costs. To install lighting in the totems was going to cost over £100,000, so the price of switching to the solar solution was paid for umpteen times over, and of course running costs are then zero going forward.”

Many long-suffering British citizens may now be questioning the effectiveness of solar-powered lighting on our consistently grey isle. Dennis quickly explains how this is combatted: “The joy of the Zeta system is the clever PS800 technology, which manages the battery life, so it will survive and run for around a week with no sunlight at all. In the Liverpool installation, we put in a motion sensor as well, so the light is dimmed when nobody is there and powered up when it senses movement.”



Going back to price, Dennis says the higher cost of the solution is massively outweighed by the savings that are achieved. However he also asserts that it does not cost significantly more in the first place, and in some instances, such as the Liverpool installation, is significantly cheaper than the initial cost of fluorescent lighting. And the system is not only designed for such big projects; Dennis says the LEDs are bespoke for each sign, so the firm is as happy to work on a one sign solution or on a large, nation-wide project.

“Globally, there is nobody else with the capabilities we have,” continues Dennis, concluding: “Demand is growing massively, we’ve doubled the size of the company in the last six months. These systems are the future of illuminated signage; I don’t doubt fluorescent lighting will be dead in three years’ time.”

So, when weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of eco-friendly signage solutions, it seems there is no clear answer. Some avenues, such as using LEDs, can provide concrete economic savings for your clients, which can only make your firm more attractive in their eyes. Other changes, like integrating a green ethos into your brand, are harder to measure, and the benefits are likely to be more of the long-term kind. Perhaps the smartest way to approach it is one step at a time, implementing the small changes that over time will add up to a sustainable and more profitable business model.

Green machines to drive an ecoethos

Weighing in from the machine manufacturing area of the industry, Jonathan Graham, business development manager at HP, says it is no longer a choice for sign-makers to be environmentally-sustainable. He continues: “Print-service-providers need to meet increasingly tighter restrictions instructed of them through the Government and other regulatory bodies, and to also meet demanding customer requirements.



“Governments are becoming particularly savvy in making sure that suppliers and vendors are practicing sustainable processes. For sign-makers who use HP Latex technology, they can use the messaging of environmental sustainability of HP Latex as the foundation of their own green messaging and activities. This pro-position will provide new business opportunities for printers and will attract customers who are looking for the best possible sustainable solutions for signage.

“The introduction of Latex technology has been a game changer for HP. Water-based HP Latex Inks can produce a range of durable applications; they don’t require hazard warning labels and contain no Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs). Latex technology also enables users to print on many different kinds of substrates, helping sign-makers achieve a professional finish that meets the customer’s needs.”


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