Eco-friendly printing materials: the greener choices, and when a durable one is right.

Recycled, kraft and uncoated paper

Paper and card are the easiest print materials to deal with at the end of their life, because they can go into normal paper recycling. Within our range, these are the stocks to look for.

• 350gsm Recycled Uncoated. A thick board made from recycled fibre, with no coating and no lamination. It is the stock used for recycled flyers and recycled business cards, and it is an option on our classic flyers, postcards and greeting cards.
• 300gsm Brown Kraft. A natural, uncoated brown card. It is the second stock on recycled flyers, and it is offered on uncoated business cards and creative material flyers.
• Hemp Blend, Uncoated Cotton and Woven Bamboo. These are stocks on our uncoated flyers and creative business cards. On the cards, Uncoated Cotton is made from pre-consumer recycled cotton, and Hemp Blend from hemp and post-consumer recycled fibres.

Uncoated stocks print differently. They absorb more ink, so colours look softer and more muted than on silk or gloss. On Brown Kraft there is no white ink, so anything white in your design shows as the brown of the card. Strong, simple designs work best.

Biodegradable flyers and posters: what we can honestly say

We only use the word biodegradable where the product description supports it. In our range that is one stock: the 300gsm Brown Kraft on creative material flyers, which is described as 100% recyclable and biodegradable.

None of our posters is described as biodegradable. For indoor use, a paper poster is the lower-impact choice, and our indoor posters include an uncoated 120gsm paper. For outdoor use, our outdoor posters come on 120gsm blueback paper, 150gsm satin poster paper, 440gsm PVC or a 400gsm PVC-free material.

Lamination: the hidden plastic

Lamination is a thin plastic film bonded to the sheet. It protects print from spills and handling, and it makes the paper underneath harder to recycle.

If the print has a short life, leave it off. Our recycled flyers and recycled business cards are unlaminated by design. Crash lock boxes are printed on 380gsm SBS paperboard, and lamination on the outside is optional, so you can order them with none.

There is a fair case for lamination too. A laminated menu that survives a season of handling is one you reprint less often. Use it where the print has to last, and not out of habit.

Cardboard displays instead of plastic and metal

Our cardboard totem displays are tall printed columns made of corrugated cardboard. They arrive flat-packed and slot together without tools. Ordered without lamination, the whole display can be recycled when the campaign ends. Add gloss or matt lamination and that is compromised.

They are meant mainly for indoor use: exhibitions, shop floors and product launches. They are not a replacement for an outdoor sign.

For packaging, mailer boxes are corrugated cardboard that folds flat to recycle or reuse.

Banners: made to last outdoors

A standard banner is 440gsm banner-grade PVC, printed with UV-based inks and made for indoor and outdoor use. PVC is a plastic, and that is the reason it is used: it is durable and flexible, and it stands up to rain and wind where paper would not. A banner like that can be taken down and put up again. It is not biodegradable, and it cannot go in your paper recycling.

We do not stock a biodegradable banner material. If you would rather avoid PVC, we stock PVC-free fabric.

• AirMesh Polyester is a 105gsm, 100% polyester mesh fabric. A full-size Heras fencing banner weighs around 0.8kg in AirMesh against roughly 1.9kg in PVC, and it folds flat.
• Fabric Mesh Polyester is a 230gsm, 100% polyester perforated mesh, also PVC-free.
• Heras fencing banners can be ordered in AirMesh Polyester for sites and events with rules that exclude PVC.

Polyester is also a plastic, so these fabrics are not biodegradable either. They are lighter and they avoid PVC. Solid PVC is still the better choice where you need a fully opaque graphic.

Lower-impact swaps at a glance

Materials built to last

Some print has to survive weather or years of handling, and paper cannot do that. These materials are plastic-based for that reason. Their environmental case is a long life, so choose them when the job needs one.

• PVC banners and waterproof posters. The 440gsm PVC on our waterproof posters is tear-resistant and made for outdoor use. For comparison, a blueback paper poster lasts around 4 to 6 weeks outdoors.
• Aluminium composite. A rigid 3mm panel of two aluminium sheets around a polyethylene core. Our aluminium composite signs are weather-resistant and made for long-term display.
• Fluted board (Correx). It looks like corrugated cardboard, but it is a weatherproof plastic. It suits temporary outdoor signs and campaigns of a few months.
• Plastic business cards. Rigid white PVC, the size and feel of a bank card, for membership and loyalty cards that are kept and used daily.
• Lamination. A thin plastic film that protects print which is handled often, such as menus.

When one of these is the right tool, the greener move is to get the most use from it. Leave dates off a banner so it can go up again next year. On our stretch fabric displays the frame is made to be reused, and replacement graphics can be ordered separately.

What every order does

Every Printlogik order funds tree planting and carbon reduction through Ecologi, at no extra cost. We call it the Print A Tree Project. It sits alongside your choice of material and does not replace it.