Reconomy combines technology and skills to enable businesses to better manage their resources, helping to reduce waste, optimise their supply chains and contribute in a meaningful way towards the circular economy.

While this involves working directly with print companies, Reconomy has also partnered with several leading manufacturers and distributors, supporting its customers with textile waste management. One such partnership is with Soyang Europe, whereby printers using materials from Soyang Europe can responsibly dispose of their waste.

This partnership came about three years ago with the support of Fespa UK. Reconomy was working on sustainability initiatives with Fespa, while Soyang Europe is a long-term member of the association.

The process works with Reconomy providing customers with a baler to prepare their textile waste. Soyang Europe then collects the bales when delivering new products to customers, with the waste taken to its facility in Altham in Lancashire ready for bulk collection and transportation to a recycling facility for processing.

‘It was a perfect fit,’ said Reconomy’s director Jon Hutton. ‘Soyang has always been proactive in wanting to offer their customers, and the wider industry, waste management solutions for their products.

‘Sustainability is a hot topic for several reasons. Brands and consumers are looking down the supply chain for environmental credentials, so it’s therefore a driving factor in how to not only maintain and gain business, but how a printer positions themselves for the long term.’

Mark Mashiter, managing director at Soyang Europe, added, ‘It provides our customers with an outlet for their waste. This works well with local customers when we deliver orders to them; we can bring any textile bales back with us and store them in our yard until they are collected.’

Originally, Reconomy had sourced a solution for recycling PVC banner and polyester fabrics at a UK site, whereby waste was blended with other polymers to produce low grade products. While this process ended when more desirable material became available to the market, a recovery route was soon set up and, with the support of Wheeldon Brothers, waste could now be diverted from landfill to renewable energy.

However, recycling has since been re-established and material is again being used in manufacturing processes. Coupled with its use for renewable energy, all of this is helping work towards a circular economy.

An additional benefit to the service is that Soyang Europe is willing to take other supplier’s waste textiles along with its own. This option is available to customers using their own transport within a set radius of Soyang Europe’s facility and when making deliveries.

‘Soyang Europe wants to be part of the environmental solution and not the problem,’ Jon said. ‘The take-back scheme provides a platform for printers to demonstrate their sustainability by providing customers with an outlet for their recycling waste.

‘Several customers have engaged with Reconomy further and are now collecting their own clients’ end-of-campaign textiles, integrating this with the collection of their materials. All loads are tracked, and Certificates of Recycling can be issued once the material has been processed.’

The work does not stop here for Reconomy, with Mr Hutton saying the company will continue to work with Soyang Europe, Fespa UK and its wider membership base to provide more sustainable solutions to the UK industry. 

‘It’s our aim to continue to be a driving force in educating the industry on the importance of recycling and developing circular economies,’ Mr Hutton said. ‘This, with the continued support of Soyang Europe, will ensure more customers take up this service.’

The post Soyang Europe builds sustainable future for customers with Reconomy appeared first on Digital Printer.

Available from 30 November 2023, and held in the Sustainability Training Room at Fespa UK’s HQ in South Yorkshire, the one-day courses are given by Jon Hutton, Fespa UK’s sustainability lead. They have been designed to either integrate a mixed group of businesses and provide them with the opportunity to network and share ideas, or are adapted specifically to focus on an individual supplier and their products.

Mr Hutton, a recognised figure, industry speaker and advocate for continual improvement of sustainability and the development of a circular economy, said, ‘With retail and consumer focus firmly fixed on the damaging environmental effects of manufacturing around the world, brand owners, print consumers, printers and suppliers are seeing the demand for being more environmentally aware.

‘Customers wanting to know the truth about the sustainability of supplier’s product’s is now high on the agenda, and the truth is often challenging, due to the complexity of graphics materials and the waste and recycling industries limitations. Forthcoming greenwashing regulations have added an extra layer to the whole topic of providing accurate information around the subject. This course will deliver answers to all these areas and give suppliers the confidence they need to address and navigate these subjects of their products and services,’ he added.

Suzi Ward, managing director of Fespa UK, said, ‘Suppliers are in a unique position to offer change; they have a responsibility, and now opportunity, to educate themselves and their customers in sustainability and best practices. We look at the lifecycle analysis of products with them to not only consider material options, but also waste and end-of-campaign. They will attain the knowledge to look at what the client currently has in place and confidently discuss environment impacts.’

The supplier course is relevant to business owners, managers and sales teams. It focuses on the four key product categories that are widely used throughout print, signage and graphics, looking at disposal options for paper and board, ridged plastic, flexible plastic and self-adhesive materials.

Courses will be delivered from 10am to 3pm and will include lunch and an opportunity to network and share ideas.

The post Fespa UK adds Supplier course to Waste Academy programme appeared first on Digital Printer.

Hexis, 3M, Adapt (with Profilm), Avery Dennison, APA, Grafityp, Spandex, William Smith, Innotech, Surfex (with FlexiShield and Teckwrap), HP and Metamark will deliver wrapping demonstrations from their own pit garages at the Silverstone race track in Northamptonshire. Attendees will be able to watch vehicle wrapping professionals demonstrate their skills, pick up new techniques and learn about the latest materials.

Concurrently, Wrap Talks, the event’s free-to-attend, interactive speaker programme, will adopt an interactive format, including ‘fireside chats’, influencer interviews and discussions around the business and science of wrapping.

TV presenter, podcaster and celebrity influencer Yianni Charalambous, owner of Yiannimize, will take part in an exclusive interview, while Justin Pate, founder of The Wrap Institute, will provide tips for wrapping entrepreneurs and material, installation and sales considerations. Professional racing driver and YouTuber Archie Hamilton will lead a panel discussion exploring market trends and innovative projects.

Joshua Stedford, of Livery Magic, will discuss the creative process of developing a Livery, including tips on logo and decal placement, how to create a colour scheme and how to use the car’s body shape. Additionally, wrap entrepreneur Corey England, the founder of Devon-based company Wrap Capital, will discuss his exciting Lamborghini Huracán fade wrap project being showcased on the WrapFest show floor.

WarpFest runs on 26 and 27 April 2023 at Silverstone.

The post WrapFest gears up with content programme appeared first on Digital Printer.

As president of the Fespa UK Association since 2018, Ms Spencer has been instrumental in supporting wide-format digital, textile, industrial and specialist printers in the UK. In 2020, Nicole became managing director of RMC Digital Print, where she had been operations director since 2011. Located in Hull, the company produces wide format applications for the signage, events, display and set design industries.

Fespa president Christophe Aussenac said, ‘With over eleven years of direct experience in the speciality print industry, Nicole has been invaluable in diversifying and expanding the range of insight and support the Fespa UK association offered its members over the past five years.’

Lascelle Barrow has stepped down from his regional Fespa board responsibilities representing the UK and has been awarded the life-long status of honorary board ,ember, in recognition of his personal contribution to the development of Fespa and the speciality printing community.

The post Spencer joins Fespa board appeared first on Digital Printer.

Aiming to address some of the issues raised by registrants for the initial programme, the new scheme offers a solution for end-of-campaign banner recycling, by providing either a tube or box system that will allow the end-user to take down the banners, put them in the boxes or tubes and send them directly to the recyclers. As well as boosting the amount of PVC or polyester banner material that is gathered for recycling, this also gives Fespa UK members traceability of their substrates after installation and use.

Fespa UK has also launched a sustainability hub, Responsible Print Solutions, which offers details of various waste management partner companies whose services have been tested by Fespa members.

Suzi Wilkinson, managing director of Fespa UK, said, ‘Our aim with the waste management project and the Responsible Print Solutions site is to do some of the leg work for the printers who want to stop talking about becoming more sustainable and get on and do something about it.

‘We all know talk is cheap and times are changing; soon enough a certificate alone won’t cut it. We want to support our members with initiatives that will help them stay ahead of the game. For me we need to take small steps together, sharing information and supporting each other to achieve a bigger goal for the industry.

‘We need lasting change and this isn’t going to happen overnight, so if that means my team and I spending time researching companies, trying to find great providers to support the industry long term, then so be it.’

Ms Wilkinson also told Digital Printer that after establishing the collection service for banner materials, the plan is to look at rigid display materials such as Correx and possibly vinyls of the type used in vehicle wrapping, but it was a case of establishing the route for one material first. She also noted that ‘contamination’ of banners with different material components such as eyelets was an issue in recycling, as the recyclers are unwilling to remove them and it was ‘understandable’ that printers don’t want to have to either. ‘It’s a headache’, she admitted, adding, ‘But it’s also what we’re here for’.

The tube or box collection programme is open to Fespa UK members and the organisation is actively seeking printers to participate.

The post Fespa UK extends recycling scheme appeared first on Digital Printer.

The event will kick off with a networking lunch before an afternoon which has deliberately been designed to be more conversational in tone that the ‘age-old format of endless presentations.’ Specifically, a panel of industry experts and successful printers will engage with the audience to answer questions, discuss strategies, and offer insights into their own business models.  

Fespa UK, which brings together the talents of wide-format, digital, textile, industrial and specialist printers across the UK, launched a waste management initiative toward the end of last year. The organisation says that an ‘overwhelming number of printers’ have already registered for the initiative and that March’s event will therefore be an opportunity to move the initiative forward and allow likeminded printers to come together and ‘help to create a real infrastructure for waste collection.’

Suzi Wilkinson, managing director of Fespa UK, commented, ‘This open discussion, is about coming together as a community, making a change together, and making a lasting commitment as an industry for the future. Fespa UK is all about community and if we work together, we are so much stronger, than when we work alone.’

The post Fespa to host waste management event appeared first on Digital Printer.

The organisation says that working with Prismm it will aim to offer a ‘totally impartial’ waste management scheme so that wherever materials are bought, printers will not be tied to one provider to dispose of their waste responsibly.

Suzi Wilkinson, managing director of Fespa UK Association, told Digital Printer, ‘It is very clear that medium to small printers are struggling to either get enough tonnage together to be able to recycle the banners, or secondly, actually getting waste management companies to turn up and collect on a regular basis [are] the biggest headaches. It’s very early days but the more printers we can get involved the quicker it will take shape.

‘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. Because we deal with a wide range of printers throughout the industry, we are best placed to bring the industry together and work towards an industry-wide waste management system,’ she added.

The plan is to use Prismm’s logistics infrastructure and knowledge of recycling markets to find solutions for specific waste types, the first of which is rigid polypropylenes. These are already being collected from printers across the UK for recycling. PVC and polyester banners will be next.

The post Fespa calls for waste PVC appeared first on Digital Printer.

Brad West, display graphics business development director at Premier, commented, ‘We are delighted to join Fespa UK. At Premier we endeavour to be close to our customers and being a member of Fespa UK will help us to share knowledge and collaborate with other members, particularly In key focus areas such as the environment and sustainability, training and education and technology and innovation.

‘Becoming members of Fespa UK will also allow Premier to help identify trends in the industry as well as providing an opportunity to both learn from and hopefully inspire other members,’ he added.

Suzi Wilkinson, director at Fespa UK, said, ‘We’re delighted to be welcoming Premier into our growing Fespa UK family. Brad and his team’s commitment to understanding and supporting the needs of our members and the wider print community in the UK, combined with our deep industry knowledge and network, will form the basis of a strong partnership going forward.’

Founded in 1962, Fespa is a global federation of some 37 national associations for the screen printing, digital printing and textile printing community and provides key tools and initiatives such as exhibitions, events, publications, education and networking opportunities, including the Global Expo event taking place in Amsterdam from 12 – 15 October 2021.

In 2019 Premier became part of Ovol Japan Pulp and Paper, the world’s largest specialist paper distributor. Premier says it has ‘close and strong working relationships with all major global graphical and display media producers and is now the preferred merchant partner for many of the world’s leading producers.’

The post Premier joins Fespa UK appeared first on Digital Printer.

The organisation says that recent additions to its network include Novum Graphics, Stylo, Macroart, Super-Wide Digital and Spirit Displays, as well as partners Durst, Innovia, Josero, One Vision Software, and environmental specialists Prismm and CarbonQuota.

‘This is a really exciting time for us – it’s been just 90 days since our relaunch and we’re already seeing the power of a growing network,’ said director Suzi Wilkinson.

The organisation also confirmed that there are three main areas that it will be investing in in oder to ‘drive positive chance.’ Those three are the environment, education and training, and technology and innovation.

‘We held a round table with 12 printers in June as our first face-to-face event since our relaunch,’ Ms Wilkinson added. ‘In the meeting, it became clear that everyone’s focus is leaning towards improving sustainability right now, which matched with our ambition. It’s becoming an increasing concern for image and reputation-conscious clients, and it’s also individually important to leaders within our industry.’

Dan Tyler, CEO at industry software specialist Vism, recently joined the FESPA UK board with a remit to drive growth in membership. and develop commercial relationships with partners.

Mr Tyler commented, ‘It’s an honour to have been asked to join the board, and to be working alongside such a committed and experienced team. We’re already moving swiftly forward with programmes to support better waste management and recycling at product end of life, alongside education and support on a range of topics including choice of materials and inks, which can make a huge difference in themselves.’

The post Fespa confirms membership surge appeared first on Digital Printer.