Respect, Reduce, Replace. How important is the environment to you?
A recent Daily Telegraph article, “Drowning in Plastic” (April 24th, 2010) described “the great Pacific garbage patch”, a plastic “cloud” argued to be the size of North America that now sits in the Pacific Ocean. It is estimated that 46,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre now float in our oceans killing 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals each year!
PVC based materials; most containing plasticers including Cadmium and Lead remain the most commonly used within the large-format graphics and display industry. These materials commonly end up in land-fill taking thousands of years to break up into tiny particles that are eventually washed into our oceans. The majority of these “cheap” and “durable” materials are manufactured outside of Europe.
A global beauty client has recently introduced stringent controls regulating the materials they use on POS and promotional materials. These controls included an outright ban on products containing PVC and an instruction that all materials meet the European REACH standard regulating chemical substances that may be dangerous to human health or the environment. Quite a brave move and one that has been made irrespective of cost!
McKenzie Clark have focused on environmental issues within the graphics and display world for the last 18 months and have worked closely with this client’s procurement division to research and source a practical alternative range of “green” materials that meet these worthwhile values.
McKenzie Clark MD, Graham Clark led the research. Clark says “I am delighted that a major global business is instigating real action to benefit the environment. So many people are exercising “green wash” to please consumers and shareholders without any real action or commitment”.
McKenzie Clark has a complete range of “environmental” substrates for all internal and external graphics applications. These materials contain no PVC and meet REACH 1907/2006. They offer a free consultancy service to review and advise on their current use of substrates and also tackle the tricky issue surrounding the disposal of materials once used. Interestingly, some of the materials introduced are manufactured in the UK, fully recyclable AND cheaper than the non-environmental ones!
Why wait for legislation to force the issue? If you would like to respect, reduce and replace your POS and promotional materials please contact Graham Clark at graham@mckenzieclark.co.uk
