Anthony Rowell, Tradeprint (L) and Katie Farr, Antalis (R)
As sustainability dominates the industry more and more, assistant editor, Ana Lambert, highlights the important schemes that industry leaders are producing to help keep the sign industry sustainable.
As the conversations around being eco-friendly continue to arise and gain traction within the sign and graphics industry, companies have started to
create and implement schemes and programmes to help keep the industry compliant with sustainability measures.
Some companies are part of schemes that work with charities, and others are creating and partaking in the schemes themselves. For instance, Brand Consortia, who market themselves as the UK’s first double-offset carbon neutral sign company, use a scheme called the Sustainable Sign Scheme.
It is designed to calculate the size of the carbon footprint produced in the fabrication and installation of signs and graphics that are produced, then purchase carbon offset credits through reputable schemes such as JP Morgan’s ‘Climate Care’ and The Carbon Neutral Company.
Another way that the industry is embracing sustainability is through recycling, reusing and repurposing in their own various ways.
Banner recycling scheme
Recycling is becoming a way for companies to meet the sustainability and carbon neutral promises set by the industry.
One company that is pioneering these recycling schemes for the sign industry is Tradeprint, in partnership with Antalis and Reconomy. The scheme was designed as a practical proof of concept for a scalable recycling model within the sign and print industry, which currently has five drop-off locations, including Tradeprint Dundee, where customers can return end-of-life PVC and PVC-free banners.
The pilot has intentionally been kept simple and cost-effective, and early feedback from customers suggests an appetite for return options by post,
but Tradeprint wanted to first validate operational feasibility before expanding the model.
The initiative also required careful governance, so in response, Antalis conducted a formal risk assessment and insurance review to allow customer
site access, and Tradeprint worked with Reconomy to ensure compliance with UK waste legislation.
Anthony Rowell, sales and customer success director, said: “The Tradeprint Banner Return Scheme was created to address a simple but important
challenge: high-quality PVC and PVC-free banners are incredibly durable, yet too often they’re used once and discarded.
“This scheme is about moving beyond traditional print models and demonstrating that our industry can take meaningful, measurable steps
toward reducing environmental impact. It’s a commitment to innovation, accountability, and doing the right thing for the long term.”
However, it’s not just recycling schemes that are making an impact but also, repurposing schemes.
HP Sustainability Amplifier programme
Revitalising end-of-life equipment
Repurposing existing materials can be another way to reach those sustainability goals for sign and graphic companies.
One of the most recognisable names in the industry, HP, has several sustainability initiatives with one centring on repurposing end-of-life equipment and print supplies.
Sustainability continues to shape how print service providers (PSPs) evolve their operations, increasing customer expectations around transparency, material circularity, and environmental impact means that sustainability is no longer optional.
Noelle Peutat, global strategic sustainability lead for HP, said: “In our experience with PSPs, one of the most effective initiatives has been the HP Planet Partners programme, which serves as our consumer repurpose and recycling programme for HP end-of-life equipment and print supplies, like cartridges, print heads and even some maintenance kits.
“This means that customers in more than 60 countries around the world can responsibly dispose of and repurpose end-of-use hardware HP also supports customers’ sustainability journeys through the HP Sustainability Amplifier, available at no cost to users with an HP PrintOS account.”
By using HP’s Planet Partners programme, users can then use a dedicated Resource Centre, which offers training modules, data references, guidelines, and bestpractice assets to help PSPs improve environmental performance within its print operations.
Through the Recognising Progress section, customers can further engage by signing the HP Sustainability Pledge and earning HP administered digital
badges that reflect measured progress and can be shared with their own clients as evidence of environmental commitment.
Repurposing can also go hand-in-hand with reuse schemes, such as Sign Trade Supplies’ ACP waste scheme.
A clear commitment to sustainability
STS have established an ACP waste scheme
Sign Trade Supplies (STS) has focused on the waste from aluminium composite panels (ACP), as they have a history of being hard to recycle.
Offcuts and old signs have too often ended up in landfill, but that is now starting to change with the help of STS’s scheme.
With the help of dedicated bins on site, STS sends its production offcuts through to a closed-loop recycling programme with Multipanel UK, this
then ensures that the ACP waste is collected, separated and returned to the manufacturing cycle.
The aluminium is smelted locally for reuse, while the recycled core material goes back into new Alupanel sheets.
Garrick Dartnell, head of marketing for Sign Trade Supplies, said: “Our motivation is simple. We want to take responsibility for the waste we generate
and reduce it wherever possible.”
The company has also tightened up everyday practices, including cardboard packaging which is FSC-certified; bubble-wrap and grip seal bags which contain recycled content and supplier packaging is repurposed wherever possible.
Production layouts are designed to maximise yield from base materials, reducing unnecessary offcuts before they even exist. For an industry under growing pressure from clients to demonstrate environmental responsibility, these steps matter.
To further its eco-friendly efforts, the company uses 100% renewable sources via Octopus Energy and inside its facilities it uses energy-efficient lighting, modern HVAC systems and electric forklifts help lower consumption, while delivery vehicles run in eco mode and staff are encouraged to car share.
By embedding climate-friendly practices, such as recycling, repurposing and reusing, the companies above are showing that practical change is possible, and that the sign industry can create a future that looks as good environmentally as the products it installs on our streets.
