At the end of 2021 Fespa UK Association announced a print waste reduction programme and called on PSPs to get involved. The response has been disappointing. So is all the hard work also going to go to waste?
Buy-in to the Fespa UK Association’s print waste collect and recycle scheme is just not happening as MD Suzie Wilkinson had hoped it would when it was launched at the end of last year.
She outlined at the time that: “Our aim is to bring as many printers together and then as a collective group build an infrastructure to responsibly dispose of as many types of substrate waste as possible.” An initial flurry of interest from PSPs and the involvement of companies like Prismm Environmental and Soyang Europe boosted hopes that the plan could be delivered - and the initial programme has indeed been extended - but now Wilkinson is beating the drum for more industry input.
“As an association we want to find solutions to the waste issues that so many printers have, and we are here to do the legwork on behalf of printers around the UK, so that they can focus on what they do best - print.
“For too long have we accepted a certificate to say that recycling or waste management has been discussed and briefly attempted, but nine times out of ten it hasn’t actually been achieved because the correct infrastructure isn’t easily available to printers - unless they have a huge number of resources and staff to throw at the issue.
“After only six months of research into this project it was easy to see why businesses settle for a certification system that makes them look good but doesn’t actually make a real dent in the landfill issue.
“So many printers are faced with unreliable waste management companies who don’t collect when they say they will, not enough tonnage to bail and collect due to the weight of things like PVC banner, not enough space for a bailer and not enough time of staff to separate to contaminated substrates from the ones that can be recycled.
“On top of trying to make a living why would anyone burden themselves with facing the challenges they face when trying to be responsible?
“Towards the end of 2021 we made the decision to try our best to make it easier for printers of all shapes and sizes recycle more efficiently. We started by focusing on two frequently used materials - PVC banner and Polyester. We did this so that we could find out what the issues were with recycling these products and then try to find a workable solution for them.
“Very quickly we identified that a huge number of printers had the materials to recycle but just didn’t have enough tonnage to warrant a bailer system, and that got us thinking. Can we create drop-off points for smaller amounts of waste in a region to be bailed in one place? Can substrate providers collect the waste from their clients in their returning empty vehicles and bail it on their site, and can we find recyclers who are willing to take smaller amounts of waste banner and have it sent directly from end of campaign in the store directly to them. The answer to all these is ‘yes’! But only if we work together.
“We need suppliers to start to pick up waste and bail it at their sites. We need printers to start talking to their clients and seeing if they would like to recycle end of campaign waste. We need printers to come forward and offer to bail other printers’ smaller amounts of waste and create local community collection points.
“These are all things that can be achieved and won’t cost the earth, but we have to start to move forward as a community and as an industry - as a group that not only wants to better our businesses but secure a better more environmentally friendly future for print.
“This is not about greenwashing nor about burying our heads in the sand and saying ‘well we tried that once’. This is not going to be an easy journey, and there will be mistakes along the way, but surely now we have started the ball rolling and are working on finding more solutions for additional different substrates we should be working together and taking small steps to utilise the options we have found to this point.
“As an association we want printers and suppliers to get involved, share their thoughts and ideas and tell us what materials they struggle with disposing. We have no problem working alongside trusted specialists to solve these issues, but we need feedback and we need guidance on what waste issues printers actually face.
“We are so grateful for the support of our members - they are the ones who help us to fund projects like this. Their membership fees [from £49 a month] are what allow us to research issues and look for viable actual solutions on their behalf. We welcome printers who are proactive, who want to engage with us and keep us on the right path. Lasting change doesn’t happen overnight and it isn’t created with just one company, we often use the #strongertogether and to us nothing is more true.”