Biodegradeable Foamboard

The Gilman Brothers Company in Gilman, CT has developed two unique foamboard products; Insite® and Duraplast® BIODEGRADABLE . These products are used in the signage and digital graphics markets and provide an eco-friendly alternative to other comparable products.

DURAPLAST® BIODEGRADABLE

An all-plastic, 100% BIODEGRADABLE, 100% recyclable foamboard consisting of a biodegradable polystyrene foam center, faced with water-proof biodegradable polystyrene liners. This foamboard is also completely recyclable. It is categorized as PS6 and is compatible with most municipal, commercial and industrial programs. Moisture proof and highly warp resistant. Foam contains 15% recycled content. For more info CLICK HERE

Insite® BIODEGRADABLE

Standard, paper-faced memory foamboard with Gilman's BIODEGRADABLE rigid foam center and SFI certified paper liners. There is no trade-off between the positive environmental attributes of Insite® BIODEGRADABLE and its physical performance. With the exception of it's biodegradable properties, Insite® BIODEGRADABLE performs the same as Insite® Reveal® foamboard. For more info CLICK HERE.

Panda Stand - Bamboo Banner

The Panda Stand L is an eco-friendly bamboo stand up banner fabricated with 90% renewable resources and 95% bamboo. Graphic Width: 31.5" Graphic Height: 78.7""

For more info CLICK HERE

TreeHugger Boxes

I spend a good deal of time talking to different people and browsing the Internet in search of new, innovative products and solutions. While the primary reason for doing this is work related, I will admit it has become more. Sometimes I am amazed by the things I find and the people who are doing them.

TreeHugger Boxes in Dallas, TX is a relatively new business that focuses of repurposing boxes. They have a great website and business model that provides a unique and green way to buy, sell and repurpose corrugated boxes. They do not have a store front and do all their business via the web - an underutilized concept in business today. TreeHugger Boxes has a small operating footprint serving the local Dallas area.

I could go on but I encourage you to take a look at their website. Somethings strike you the right way and this has for me. Thinking outside of the box has always been a winning formula in business. It's great to see innovative people who are doing good for the environment while providing a valued service - not to mention making a buck along the way.

CLICK HERE for more info on TreeHugger Boxes

Lumicor R4 - Beyond Green

Lumicor is a resin panel maunfacturer located in Renton, WA. The Lumicor R4 products are the latest choice in eco-friendly design panels and can be used to fulfill a variety of signage needs.

REUSE
Reusing materials is one of the most efficient methods of reducing environmental impact. That’s why Lumicor has designed a manufacturing process that REUSES water in a closed-loop system, saving over 21 million gallons of fresh water each year. Lumicor's manufacturing facility was built by REUSING 700 tons of recycled concrete, reducing demands on new materials. They also REUSE the thermal energy generated during manufacturing to heat the facility, creating annual savings of 865 million BTU’s of energy.

RECYCLE
Lumicor R4 products contain up to 60% certified RECYCLED material. Lumicor is committed to providing the best products to help your building project qualify for LEED certification. Lumiclear R4, Lumiguard R4, and Lumiform R4 are certified as having RECYCLED material by one of the leading certifying companies, Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) and contains 60%, 50%, 40% and 30% recycled resin, depending on your needs.

RESINS
Lumicor offers certified recycled products in 3 resin options: Lumiclear R4™, Lumiguard R4™ and Lumiform R4™. Lumiclear R4 is the first encapsulated resin product to include 50% recycled material without compromising its clarity. Lumiguard R4 combines enhanced chemical resistance with 30% recycled content. Lumiform R4 contains 40% recycled material and carries a Class A Fire Rating.

http://www.lumicor.com/

Powder Coating

Coatings are intended to be used for many purposes - applying color, changing surface finish and texture, providing a protective coating etc. Exterior coatings in particular present many challenges due to the many elements of an exterior environment. While there are more and more low VOC coating on the market today, powder coating is an environmentally sound way to coat metals.

Below is an overview of the powder coating processing taken from Forms & Surfaces.

OVERVIEW

Powder coating is a dry finishing method in which electrically charged particles of pigmented resins are sprayed onto a product. Electrical grounding of the coated object causes the charged powder to adhere to the surface. When baked in a curing oven the deposited powder melts and fuses together to form a continuous, cross-linked coating. Powder coat finishes are attractive, uniform and highly resistant to corrosion, abrasion, cracking, chipping, chemicals and ultraviolet degradation. Powder coating is also environmentally friendly: Compared to solvent-based coatings, the dry process releases negligible amounts of harmful VOCs.

For more info on Powder Coating check out the Powder Coating Institute.

Yard Sales

This past weekend I decided it was time for a yard sales. Every once in a while we stop and go through all the things we collected and decide to get rid of what we no longer want or use.

The concept behind a yard is a great - selling your unwanted things to others instead of throwing them away. Most of us don't have a yard with environmental consciousness in mind but indeed are being green.

Two things came to mind during this yard sale; the first was how crazy yard sale people actually are and the second was how can the yard sale concept effect the business environment. In reality it already does. EBay and Craig's List to name a few created a forum for people to buy and sell just about anything including consumable materials and unwanted or unused equipment.

Imagine taking things a few steps further - an industrial park yard sale. Crazy idea? Maybe or maybe not!

LexJet Sustainable Solutions

Lexjet Sustainable Solutions has developed specific products and programs for the digital print market. They offer a variety of substrates and recycling programs for different materials including banner and ink cartridges.

LexJet Recycling Programs: These programs recycle potential waste directly into consumer products. They represent the most sustainable solutions currently available as they reduce environmental impact throughout the entire product life cycle.

LexJet Recyclable Media: These printable materials are recyclable at most local recycling facilities. It is important that you work in partnership with your local waste management company to determine exactly which products they can and cannot recycle.

LexJet PEFC/FSC Certified Papers: PEFC certified timber and paper products are an independently verified assurance to customers that they are buying wood products from sustainably managed forests.

Plastic Lumber Signage

Last summer my wife and I decided it was time to replace our deck. We wanted to use plastic lumber which has many benefits over traditional wood decking. With 2 little kids and several animals in our lives, using a material that has not been chemically treated and incorporates recycled materials was a perfect fit.

While doing a search on plastic lumber I came across a company in Akron, Ohio called The Plastic Lumber Company. These guys make traditional things like park benches and such. They also have a complete line of modular exterior sign systems using plastic lumber including custom architectural signage.

The Plastic Lumber company offers a variety of products with many standard colors to choice from. They build routed, digital and modular solutions with a unique environmental spin. CLICK HERE for more info on The Plastic Lumber Company.

Custom Routed Sign75" x 120"
Designed for City of Holland, Michigan (1995)

by M.C. Smith Associates and Architectural Group, Inc.

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Custom Routed Sign56" x 112"
Designed by the City of Barberton, Ohio (1996)

by GPD Associates

Akron Ohio

Sign Expo 2009

Tomorrow, April 16th, the 63th International Sign Expo kicks off at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. The first question on everyone's mind is how many attendees will make the trek to Vegas during this economic slowdown. ISA is expecting a great turnout have done a good job putting everything together.

I am interested to see how many companies are promoting green products. There has been an increase in the amount of green marketing overall the last several years but a slower increase in actual products. I have seen a few real interesting recycling programs for digital printing and a lot of talk concerning illuminated signs.

Over the next few days I hope to find a few interesting things that can be shared. I'm also very interested to see what new products are out there and if anyone is integrating other green materials into their sign systems.

LEED Certified Materials

I get asked all the time about whether or not a product/materials is LEED certified. The majority of people do not really understand LEED thus are confused about how LEED relates to products/materials.

According to the USGBC's website, "LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality."

So, there is no such thing as a LEED Certified product/material. In each of the different certification programs, there are points awarded in the five key areas for things like incorporating materials with certain amounts of recycled content and using materials that emit no VOC's. These point are for the overall amount of materials that are in a building which is why signage truly does not factor into achieving LEED points.

The only area that signage has a direct impact on LEED is in the area of education. There is a potential 1 point available for developing an education system throughout a LEED certified facility. The education system is intended to inform the occupants and visitors of the reasons why the building is LEED certified. The idea is to celebrate the success of building green while informing people about environmental consciousness.

This however doesn't mean that signage can't follow many of the same principals of incorporating products with recycled content and low or no VOC coatings. There are many great resources that can be found, including this blog, that can help in choosing the right materials for a project that is trying to obtain LEED certification. The USGBC's website has a great deal of information that can also be of great help.

Radio Appearance

Last weekend I was a guest on Naomi Pearson's talk radio show Design Evolution. The show focused specifically on Environmental Graphic Design (EGD) and movement towards greener business practices and products in signage.

Wind Powered Signage

I was scanning through the March issue of Sign Builder Illustrated and came across the Quotes and Comments section where there was a short write up about Coca-Cola's new digital billboards in Times Square using wind power. This led me to do a search on wind powered signage.

In addition to Coca-Cola's launch of wind powered digital billboards in late 2008, very soon Ricoh will launch a sign in Times Square powered by wind turbines and solar panel. The wind-turbine technology has been developed by WePOWER (Torrance, CA) and will be powered by 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels. This combination is estimated to save 18 tons of carbon per year and roughly $12,000 to $15,000 a month in electricity.

Although incorporating wind power into signage is not an everyday type of event for most of us, these stories illustrate how advances in environmentally conscious technologies can be applied to signage. With a little ingenuity and a bit of creativity we can all see how these technologies can be implemented.

To read more, ask our good friends at Google and you'll find some really interesting stuff.