can you recycle foamex?

Foamex is a brand name that is universally used for PVC foam board and is widely used in internal and external signs. Along with exhibition display stands and almost every shell scheme is made from these boards.

But the question I am regularly asked is, “can you recycle foamex?” and “can I use it to make an eco friendly exhibition stand?”.

recycling pvc foam board, is it all smoke and mirrors?

Before we look at whether you can recycle a product its important to understand a couple of key points.

foamex; pre-consumer waste recycling

Pre-consumer means exactly this, it’s before it gets to either a sign maker, custom booth builder or events company, its basically recycled before it leaves where its made.

If you imagine making a pie, and you fill the tray with pastry, you then trim the surplus, re-roll this and then reuse it to make another pie. This all takes place before the pie reaches the shop, so its pre-consumer.

This is a not so clever (actually misleading) bit of marketing used by the manufacturers of PVC foam board to make it “sound” like it can be recycled, it probably can. To do this you have a line that can pick up off cuts, then reprocess on the spot this would need to be immaculately clean waste. Its actually pretty standard in all manufacturing …. but let’s be honest its not “recycling” foamex and its not helping you if you want to make an eco friendly exhibition.

foamex; post-consumer waste recycling

This is where the issues start.

In principal, a sign maker, stand builder or exhibition company COULD keep all its offcuts, keep these immaculately clean and send these back to source.

To do this, you’d need a bin to place this in, a collection from someone who could then collect tonnes of this, and then a method of getting it back to where it came from. In reality this isn’t going to happen, PVC foam is super cheap (which is why its so widely used) and its simply not cost effective to do this. I’ve not even considered the CO2 impact of this, but suffice to say that’s not going to work either.

Further to this, once the bits that are printed on, cut or have vinyls applied to these are now “contaminated” and you then cant even send this back to be reprocessed, the outcome …. landfill. Still no closer to an eco friendly display stand.

foamex: post consumer reuse

So with the options of recycling PVC foamboard being limited (at best) the next option available is to reuse the boards.

This is actually not impossible and providing that they are looked after when they are installed and used, it is perfectly practical, you can apply a new layer of vinyl and away you go.

Obviously, you’ll need to get these back to the company that has printed these and this in turn can present a problem but its do-able with a bit of effort. Kind of getting there with regards to an eco friendly exhibition stand.

best alternatives to foamex

So if you are thinking, “I’m not liking any of these options what can I do?”

Basically, you have one choice that’s viable (well two) first just place it into landfill and ignore the fact it will take an indeterminate number of years (50+) to break down, or find an alternative, this is an option but let be totally honest its not really where we need to be as an industry.

Products do exist (we use a product called Ecoboard) that are FSC certified, recycled and are recyclable and these are easily recycled by you or me as post-consumer. These will give you an option to provide eco friendly display stands at all of your upcoming events.

If you are going to go along this route, contact your supplier and ask for samples, some are better than others, some even have waterproof qualities, but some of them are sub-standard.

so what options are available for an eco friendly exhibition stand?

Regrettably unless you start pushing your supplier to provide an alternative, not much will change. Everything is ultimately driven by you, the customer.

If though you want to talk with a company that already has experience of this and can supply for you some alternatives that will save you the leg work. Get in touch with us and I’ll get everything moving and will happily share my knowledge with you.

vehicle graphics ideas

Are you looking to add some graphics to your car, van, lorry or work vehicle?  Whether you know what you are looking for or if you are on the hunt for ideas, you’re in the right place. 

Our team has put together a  range of  car and van graphics examples  for you to take a look through to get the creative juices flowing.  Once you have an idea of what you are looking for, our team can work with you to create amazing van graphics including full or half wraps to suit help advertise your business, through to adding your  logo and contact details to all your fleet vehicles. 

Here are some examples of recent  car and van graphics we have worked on with our clients.

what type of sign do I need for my business?

There are a lot of business sign companies and getting a sign for your business is an important decision as it’s the window to your business.

A good sign and graphic design service can really help you show what it is your business does, and often is the first impression that anyone looking at your business will see. There are a lot of business sign companies but in the blog we aim to give you a few ideas and pointers to get you started.

what do I need to think about for my sign?

The type of sign you need will be affected by a few different factors:

1. How much room have you got for your sign?
2. Where will you position your sign?
3. Who is the audience and what do you want them to do when they see it?
4. When do your customers come to see you?
5. What’s the budget?
6. How do I design a sign?
7. Where do I buy a sign? and how does this work

1. how much room do I need for a sign?

You are going to be a little limited if you have only a small area for your sign, but that doesn’t mean you can’t stand out as a good business sign company will be able to advise you, one thing to bear in mind is size of the sign will depend also on viewing distance. There isn’t much point putting a 6-meter sign on the building if you are only going to view it from 15 meters away.

If you haven’t got a lot of room on your walls, what about putting window graphics to complement or replace this? If you think this is an option, a team that design shop signs and graphics every day should recommend this when we do the initial survey and measure up of your building.

2. where will you position your sign?

General rule of thumb with signs is, more is more (not less), there is nothing more frustrating than constantly getting calls from a would-be customer to say “I can’t seem to find you”. Within reason put up as many as you can, but don’t go silly. If you can’t get it on your building can you put it by the road or footpath?

Word of warning sometimes roadside signs will need planning permission, if you are not any self-respecting sign fitters or sign designers give you some advice on how to move forwards with this.

3. who is the audience and what do you want them to do?

Don’t be subtle. If you want a call, make the phone number large, if you are confident people will take down the web address add this, personally I have never done this as most people are bright enough to google search it anyway. If its important to you, a good sign and graphic design team will help you get the message just right.

Whilst a lovely brand logo is nice. Steve’s Interiors, (and apologies if there is a business called this Steve), is all well and good on a sign, but if you have no idea who Steve is or what type of interior he does, chances are you’ll not bother to find out.

Steves Interiors – We sell furniture ………… is a lot more obvious.

4. when do your customers come to see you?

Most businesses are based around office hours, so except for a couple of months in the winter, people will come during daylight. So the need for a lit sign for people to find you are probably minimal. If however, you want to use the sign to advertise your business and it faces towards where your clients will be, or you are a gym, restaurant or anything where people will be visiting after work then ask sign designer to add some lights on a P.I.R. (light sensor) that will switch itself on and off when it gets dark.

5. what’s the budget for my sign?

All of the above are going to effect the cost of your sign, but a good team of designers and sign fitters will be able to advise on a full range of solutions that will suit any budget. They should also be able to give you an exact price if they have done a full site survey and considered all the options for you.

6. how do I design a sign?

A good signs and graphic design service is essential, you can go on a generic web based solution and whilst if might feel like its saving you money, this is one of them instances where you really need and experienced sign fitters to help you out. Use a company that have a specialist team and who design shop signs and graphics as part of the service, going to a one man band, will only result in delays and confusion in the brief.

7. where do I buy signs for my business? and how does that work?

I’d always recommend that you buy signs from the local area, and even if the installation is elsewhere in the UK, having a sign fitter that is in the locality is handy for samples and face to face advice, it’s also great to support local business.

For more information on this, read our blog post – Where do I buy signs for my business? and how does that work?

1. look for a business sign company that can help you

We offer signs and graphic design services in Cambridge, Huntingdon, Peterborough, Bedford and the local area. We also work on nationwide projects and offer a full fitting and installation service.

To get started, contact us and we will arrange with you a convenient time to come and meet you at your place of work.

2. let’s chat about your requirements

We will have a chat with you over your brief and offer you our free advice on the best way of getting the most out of your signs.

If you’re looking for ideas, we have put together a   signs and graphics ideas  together for inspiration

3. site visit and survey

We will survey your site and measure up. At this point our experts will undertake a brief onsite health and safety risk assessment. We will also advise on any other issues that you might need to think about, like access issues, planning applications or power and lighting.

4. lights, camera, action

We will take photos of your office, workshop, shop or building and store these in your unique project file. This is a key point of our unique signs and graphic design offering. Our team will use these to provide you with mock ups to show you how your signs will look on your shop front, inside your office or workshop.

5. quotation

We will provide you with a quotation for the work based on our site visit. We will offer you a choice of workable solutions for your budget, and one of our team will call you to talk you through these.

6. signs, graphics and design

This is the good bit. Once you approve the quote we’ll ask you for your logos and any brand guidelines you may have, to start working on your project.

We will supply you with FREE visuals of what the project will look like, this is all part of our service. We will work with you on all of your signs graphic design and provide you with graphic proofs until you are happy with the final result.

7. manufacturing and fitting

Once everything is agreed, wewill start the manufacturing of your new signs ready for fitting. 

Our team will then come and fit your new signs at an agreed time and date and then take payment when everything is perfect.

we’d love to hear from you

how we work with you to delivery your perfect event

Are you attending your first trade show? or ever wondered how  planning your stand works? We have put together a start to finish guide  to deliver your perfect event.

1. Contact us
2. Consultation with our team
3. Concept visuals
4. Presentation of ideas
5. Presentation of refined concept
6. Internal presentation
7. Tweaks
8. Approval
9. Pre-build
10. Build at your event
11. Sign off
12. Show day
13. End of your show

1. contact us

Firstly you’ve got to contact us, yes we know it can be a bit of a leap, but trust us, we won’t bite, we’ve been doing this for years and we are a safe pair of hands. Once you’ve contacted us we’ll arrange chat or a meeting.

If you are new to exhibiting, or need a few pointers, have a read of –   How to get the best out of an exhibition

2. consultation with our team

Once we’ve arranged a meeting either, face to face, online video call or telephone, at this meeting a member of our exhibition services team will be on hand to talk everything through with you.

Ideally, if you could have to hand at this first meeting a basic few details;

• What event you are exhibiting at
• The venue it is being held at
• Dates of your exhibition
• What type of stand do you have (is it shell scheme or space only)
• What size space have you got?
• Do you have a floor plan?

It’s also really handy for us to have a rough idea of your budget at this point.

We would suggest setting aside at least 30 minutes for this meeting, as this is a really important part of the process.

3.  concept visuals

If you are looking for a custom booth builder or a full bespoke space only stand, we pride ourselves on our display stand design ideas, that will be bespoke to you and your business.

If budget is a consideration we also have a range of creative template ideas that you might like to consider.

For either choice we will then do, at no cost to you, a set of concept visuals, and if you have asked us too, we will also come up with a lot of suggestions to create not only your stand but also solutions to create and interactive exhibition space.

4. presentation of ideas

We will then arrange a meeting with you to present our concept ideas to you, with a member of our exhibition services team on hand and depending on the project your dedicated account manager.

At this meeting we will offer you a few ideas and suggestions, whilst our we pride ourselves on our display stand design ideas, we are always happy to modify the design at this point and to revise and grow on both of our ideas. After this meeting, we will go away and make any changes that are needed.

5. presentation of refined ideas

This meeting is getting near to the outline of the space. By this point we’ll have a feel for the final layout, what extras are needed to create a more interactive exhibition space, and can present to you both the designs and outline costs.

This we can then send to you as a PDF or present   your stand to you in a   virtual 3D environment that you can “walk around” on screen.

6. internal presentation

It’s quite normal at this stage for you to need to present this internally, we are more than comfortable to help you present internally and can support you with any technical questions that may come your way.

7. tweaks

At this point you’ll know that you will enjoy working with us, and hopefully by now you’ll be in a position to let us know that you want to go forwards with the project. Its now the tweaks begin and we start on creating graphics to suit your messaging, our team can design this or you can send this to your in-house or regular graphic designer.

8. approval

Ok now it’s all good to go, you’ll need to approve the project and we’ll set you up a customer account. From this point on our manufacturing team and custom booth builders will go into production and start with the making of the stand space working with our exhibition services team and your dedicated account manager.

9. pre-build

We would 100% encourage you to come and see the stand as it is pre-built. At this point you can come to our unit meet the team face to face, our exhibition services team and the team who will deliver your stand. It’s always better do the snagging at this point, than on the setup day before the show.

Our exhibition services team are based in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire with easy transport links to get to us.

 10. build at your event

Our exhibition services team will deal with the logistics on the day for you. We’ll get everything to the venue and to your  stand including; any stock you are taking and all the other components parts for the event.

If you’ve asked us to install tech for your interactive exhibition, we will also fit all of this and test it all to ensure there are no surprises on the day.

11. sign off

We would normally ask to meet you on the final afternoon of the build period, your account manager will walk you through and around the space with you and make sure you are 100% happy.

We will then leave you with a contact number and leave you to your event. You can call us any time if you need our support.

12. show day

You and your team can now enjoy your event and be amazing, sell stuff and be the best versions of you, having not had the hassle many of your competitors will have had with setting up their own stand.

13. end of your show

Once the show is over, all that is left for you to do is leave the venue, go home have a glass of beer or wine and put your feet up. Safe in the knowledge that our exhibition services team are there to dismantle your stand and tidy up.

We will, wrap, tape and pack away safely for your next successful event.

It’s that easy.

Want to get the project going, why waste time, contact us today here

we’d love to hear from you

creating an interactive exhibition stand

Looking for  an interactive exhibition that really engages with your prospective clients and leads?

Having spent hours working with a supplier to come up with some clever display stand design ideas is all well and good but if you really want to get people onto your stand an interactive exhibition space is the way forward.

Our exhibition services team have lots of valuable experience in advising on the best way to create an interactive exhibition.

We will help you not only plan the floor plan and how people will interact, but will come up with display stand ideas that will help deliver an interactive exhibition.

touch screens and apps

People love to play with technology. We can supply app design, and the tablets and monitors. All fitted and delivered and ready to use for you on the day by our custom booth builders.

We have experience in delivering games, touch screen tech, competitions, VR headsets and a whole host of creative ideas that will help give you and your team not only something interesting to deliver but also a great way of generating leads.

We want you to get the most out of your event, so contact a member of our   exhibition services team at Motive Graphics and let’s come up with some display stand design ideas that deliver a truly amazing interactive exhibition.

 signs and graphics ideas

Looking for signs and graphics ideas for your shop front, business, office or workshop?

From simple banners and posters through to lightbox signs for shop fronts and multi site rebrand signage, our team will meet with you and talk through ideas for your signs and see how we can help, find out more.

Below are some examples of recent signs and graphics projects we have worked on with our clients.

display stand design ideas

Are you looking for display stand design ideas for your shows for the coming season?

Our team will meet with you to talk through your ideas for your stand, and what messaging you are looking to put across to your target audience. We will then work with you to design a display stand that you are happy with. Once you are happy with your stand design, our team will take it from design to your new physical stand. 

Here are some examples of recent stands we have worked on with our clients.

1. Coronavirus is part of a family of virus’, which range from the common cold to SARS and MERS.

2. There is some evidence that it is very rare for those under 25 to get Coronavirus.

3. The vast majority of those catching Coronavirus will suffer not more than typical cold symptoms and then get better. Recovery is about a week.

4. A small proportion of people – those with underlying symptoms (diabetics etc) and elderly over 60 – at greater risk. The main risk is severe pneumonia.

5. 98% of those catching Coronavirus will just get better.

6. It is very unlikely that there will be any vaccine available for around 18 months.

7. The most likely places for the virus to spread are in the home, at school or in the workplace.

8. It is highly unlikely people will pick up the virus walking in the street or shopping etc.

9. Transmission is generally by close contact.

10. Equally it is less likely they will pick the virus up at outdoor events, than on a crowded underground or in a packed pub after a football match.

11. There is currently no plan to ban or shutdown any events in the UK.

12. Surfaces like stainless steel, wood etc. do not seem to harbour viruses like this – plastic, on the other hand, does.

13. Washing hands is important –  find out the best way to wash your hands

14. Generally, the advice is that people should continue to go about their normal lives but if they feel unwell they should stay at home.

15. Government may issue specific advice for vulnerable groups but nothing is planned at the moment.

16. It is unlikely that the UK Government will follow others in banning events, such as football matches, as the risk of catching the virus is low and they are keen for people to continue to live their lives normally.

17. Rather than event cancellation, organisers should perhaps check with attendees to see if they should consider not attending.

Generally, there was reassurance that businesses should continue to run normally unless things dramatically change.

For all the latest on the outbreak keep up-to-date with Coronavirus

If you have got an event in the next few weeks, and do have contact with the orgainser and it looks like the event may get pulled, please contact the team at Motive Graphics, and let us know.

Call us on 01480 597444 or email hello@motivegraphics.co.uk

finally

Thanks for reading this, as a team we have a lot of real-life experience and are in constant contact with people who run their own business or are Marketing for a business, we have experience and we hear loads of ideas so we are great to bounce ideas off.

If you want to make contact, and we’ll give you a hand, make you, and your brand look brilliant, and most importantly make its easy.

Enjoy your show.