Innotech is offering a PVC-free substrate for banners that is a first full biodegradable media. Envirotech Bio250 is a grey back 250gsm fabric material produced from natural fibres that will decompose in the residual waste stream in 9-12 months, the company claims.
The material is suited to latex, solvent and UV-C printing and is targeted at short term campaign banners, wall coverings, roller banners, stretched frame canvases and exhibition backdrops. It has a two-year life as a banner, with a rapid breakdown once collected and placed in suitable conditions for hot composting.
This is an alternative for the thousands of square metres of material that ends up in landfill at the end of life, let alone the problems posed by PVC at end of life. “Envirotech Bio250 gives the display print industry an effective opportunity to make a real difference to the planet,” says the company.
Commercial director Derek Shedden says: “This is a massive breakthrough for our industry. The pressure has been on all of us that make up the print industry to do something about our impact on the environment and this is a massive stride in the right direction.”
It is not the first PVC material offered by Innotech. The company also sells Vertex Texture as polyester coated fabric suitable for inkjet printing that can be recycled in the appropriate waste streams.
A number of other products on the market have a similar environmental profile, using polyester or recycled plastic yarns instead of PVC, but none as yet is biodegradable. Envirotech itself is not perfect. It is rated B on the Eco Impact Score online tool that Infotech introduced earlier in the summer.
“While we understand the ultimate goal is closed loop recycling at end of life,” says Sheddon, “with the limited infrastructure currently available this is the obvious solution in the meantime, especially where recovery can be difficult across multiple locations, for example.”
