Nettle Chippenham, the green arm of Nettl DigiPrint Chippenham and Bath, has ditched all traditional PVC banner supplies in favour of PVC-free Kavalan.
The wholesale migration follows a two-year quest in search of a proven and credible PVC-free alternative. “During the 2020 Lockdown we decided that the business needed to adopt a new green ethos. We wanted to provide a sustainable choice to our customers, offering it via the Nettl UK partnership of 220 studios that are currently buying non-eco signage options. We can fill that green gap,” said Ben Gregory, MD, Nettl DigiPrint Chippenham and Bath and director of new green hub, Nettl Chippenham.
“We’ve already seen an uptake in the request for green products, particularly from government bodies, schools, universities and colleges. Some of the councils now won’t buy a banner material unless it comes from an eco-source. They’re already ticking the boxes that will trickle down to other businesses,” he added.
In Gregory’s experience, the road to greater sustainability hasn’t been easy, with greenwashing a frustration. “The good thing about [Kavalan distributor] CMYUK is has been its transparency regarding the media,” he said. “There are technical data sheets as well as production information that includes CO2 emissions. This is great for us as we are a carbon positive business, which is a step beyond being carbon neutral,’ he says.
Kavalan Sunlight Frontlit Banner was one of the products Nettl Chippenham tested alongside other PVC-free options. “We liked its thickness, durability, and the fact that there is very little stretch. We’d never used a grey back before, and it was a massive bonus. In comparison to Kavalan, the other green options were thin, stretchy and nowhere near as strong. With the non-Kavalan materials we had to do a fair amount of profiling to each one, to get the correct colour balance and the right amount of scratch resistance. Kavalan outperformed all the other PVC-free materials by far,” said Gregory.
Nettl Chippenham is now evaluating several materials from the CMYUK exclusive eco portfolio including Pongs and UFabrik textiles for TFS graphics and backdrops. All materials have been tested using the company’s HP Latex equipment installed at the Nettl DigiPrint Chippenham and Bath production studios.
