Wide-Format Printers Embrace Substrate Sustainability

Across the printing industry, sustainability has become a key business facet. For the wide-format sector, this is especially crucial because of the size of the jobs being produced.

“The large-format/wide-format space utilizes a lot of materials based on durability or performance, and a lot of those materials are plastic — you know, petroleum-based,” says Reid Baker, president of Seattle-based SuperGraphics.

In light of this, as well as the trend toward sustainable practices among print customers, print service providers (PSPs) are increasingly investing in sustainable materials.

“We want to be a responsible part of our community here, and we think that using more sustainable materials is going to help us be a better partner to our community,” says Stan Valiulis, co-owner of Interstate Graphics in Machesney Park, Illinois. “Also, our customers really are looking for that. Just like they look for things like certification, they look for other methods [and] other media to print on."

Criteria for Sustainable Media

When choosing materials for wide-format projects such as vehicle wraps or outdoor signage, the substrates must meet several benchmarks. As part of its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) plan, St. Paul, Minnesota-based Vomela focuses on improving its operations and material sourcing to ensure the substrates it uses are up to snuff.

This tradeshow booth is recyclable, says Vomela's Teri Mascotti. | Credit: Vomela

“Part of the material sourcing piece is that if company XYZ says, ‘Oh, this is 100% recyclable, and it'll never fade,’ we actually will retest it to make sure that the claims that they put out are legit,” says Teri Mascotti, senior director of marketing at Vomela. “So, we run it on our equipment, we see the inks, what their staying power is, and so forth.”

Back in Seattle, SuperGraphics takes its environmental responsibility beyond substrate selection.

“Seattle is a unique marketplace compared to most of the country in the sense that we have a very advanced recycling, composting, and waste disposal network or infrastructure already in place,” Baker says. “We actually are able to choose how we recycle, and SuperGraphics recycles via an organization that has a higher standard toward clean second use than your typical Waste Management or other recyclers.”

Because SuperGraphics’ partner organization — DTG Recycle — only accepts materials without PVC, Baker says SuperGraphics aims to be PVC-free by the end of 2025. While SuperGraphics already has sustainability goals, DTG’s PVC guidelines propel the PSP to continually search for more eco-friendly substrates.

For Valiulis, the criteria for sustainable media boils down to how easy it is to recycle.

“Can it just go into a blue bin?” he asks. “Is it easy, or do you have to segregate it? Any time you have to segregate it, the chances of that actually happening just gets lower and lower. With most plastics, it requires some level of separation. You just don't see that happen at the end-use location.”

How Sustainable Media Products Compare

The biggest difference between standard substrates and sustainable options is the environmental impact. Aside from the obvious, Valiulis says that eco-friendly media may not stand up to wear and tear as well as traditional products.

“There's some durability issues on occasion with sustainable media versus non-sustainable media, but that's often something we test out,” he explains. “Before we do anything major with it, we want to make sure we're doing our due diligence, running it to see how long it'll last.”

Mascotti says the durability of your substrate depends on the intended end use.

“You have external wear and tear on a car — the weather,” she says. “When you think about Amazon trucks or big semi-trailers, you get a lot of wear and tear.” Because you need the product to stand up to the elements, you might have to compromise between durability and 100% sustainability.

Sustainable substrates are often an excellent choice for indoor applications, such as wallcoverings or tradeshow graphics. | Credit: SuperGraphics

However, Mascotti says that sustainable media is a more viable choice for jobs that have an indoor destination, such as a tradeshow, and customers will opt for it.

To address durability differences, Baker suggests that how these substrates are handled can play a role.

“I think that there are potentially different workflows you need to utilize when you're using sustainable materials to make sure you're getting the same durability,” he says. “So, we might need to finish sustainable materials slightly different than we might finish PVC materials in order to maximize the durability.”

Another concern with sustainable substrates is on the financial side. While Valiulis says the costs for sustainable media are higher than those for standard substrates and may deter some customers, Baker says the price isn’t too much higher.

“There is a cost difference, but I think it's more along a five to 10% level than it is on another level,” Baker explains. “And a lot of times, we're able to talk with our clients around that cost difference, and when they see that it's such a small amount, they decide to invest and be sustainable. Sometimes, we will help them get there by taking a slightly lower margin on sustainable materials — and that's our commitment to being sustainable.”

Meeting Customer Needs

As mentioned previously, some of the impetus behind the shift to eco-friendly practices in printing is the emphasis from print customers and the public at large. When customers seek sustainable options, one of the key aspects they look for in a print program is the opportunity to learn.

“I think what they're looking for right now is to be educated on what the options are,” Baker says. “And so, we have three things that we try to do with sustainable materials. We are in a learning environment where we're trying to learn as much as we can about how to be more sustainable, and we are in an education environment where we're educating our clients on what is available and why it is sustainable. And then we're also in a promoting environment, so everything that we say, we put on our website and it is wide open for … our customers to read, our competitors to read, the industry, etc.”

There is no one-size-fits-all solution that meets all customers' needs and environmental requisites. | Credit: Vomela

Mascotti agrees that educating customers on available sustainable options is crucial. But she says there is no one-size-fits-all option when it comes to meeting both customers’ needs and environmental standards.

“When you see Vomela in the wall murals, the material that we use often has a backer or a liner, and that ends up having a film in it so that it doesn't stick together,” Mascotti says. “So, unfortunately, the material you're printing on could be [sustainable], but it's always: What do we do with that waste? So, it's helping customers define what's the most important output for them so that they can say, ‘Here's a product that best meets our green initiatives or our sustainable initiatives,’ and then we go from there. It's not always just one element that fits everybody; it's really helping them understand what's available to them, and then we're starting to do the testing on the materials that we're printing.”

Valiulis adds that pointing customers toward sustainable options may be all that’s needed.

“They have their legacy programs, and then they are usually just looking for an alternative to that legacy plastic product,” he says. “So, usually most opportunities include both, where you're providing a price, or you're providing the legacy material, and they're looking for a sustainable option as well. Again, the goal is for more people to take that sustainable option, and we've been proactively doing that with our customers, even when they're not asking for it. It's just saying, ‘Hey, do you want a more sustainable option? Here's what that looks like.’ That way, they can make the best choice.”

The Future of Sustainable Media

With sustainability already at the top of the print industry’s mind, the outlook for environmentally friendly substrates is bright. With SuperGraphics’ goal of phasing out PVC by the end of next year, it's no surprise that Baker foresees fewer substrates containing them down the line.

“I think that paper is going to become more and more prevalent, specifically with different types of additives and coatings that go into paper — still keep it pulp-based, but give it some water resistance,” he says. “We're already seeing that … for short-term outdoor signage uses, maybe up to one to three months. There are options available that are pulp-based. So, we are working with manufacturers to try to move their pressure-sensitive films from PVC-based to polyurethane-based. The performance is as good if not better than PVC, but the manufacturing process and the landfill breakdown process is much cleaner for those materials than PVC.”

Similarly, Valiulis says that he sees suppliers investing more in sustainable substrate solutions, which is essential as wide-format printers and their customers look for eco-friendly options.

“I think the more people take the option of the sustainable media — from a customer perspective — the more the cost of that material is going to go down, and that'll really help out,” he says. “It's kind of a chicken-and-egg, though. We need more people to take a little bit of a higher price sometimes to help get the whole market to a more reasonable price level. Technology is changing all the time. Every year, so many new media are coming out that are environmentally better, we'll call it, or easier to deal with after the use-life of the material.”