Let us pose you a question. How many square metres of PVC banner do you think was printed in Europe in 2018? 

When I recently met with Nova Abbott of KAVALAN, I was amazed to discover the answer is: 340,200,000 m2!!

This is a surprising number! This surface is large enough to cover Old Trafford Football Stadium. 12,300 times!

There is no questioning the popularity of PVC. It is a hugely successful material. Why? Because it is tough, durable, and it is easy to work with and you can print onto it easily. It isn’t a difficult material to manufacture so therefore, it is easily standardised. What you see is what you get! However, the main benefit of PVC is economic: It’s cheap and widely available.  But according to Kavalan, it really doesn’t have to be this way.

The problem is that in environmental terms, PVC is one of the worst offenders for polluting our planet, and in a world, with growing concerns of climate change and the impact of consumerism on the planet this is a concerning fact.

According to Eco-Watch, PVC is bad because PVC, polyvinyl chloride, or vinyl, is found in a range of products, from children's toys to building materials to food packaging. Vinyl chloride, the chemical used to make PVC, has been described as a known carcinogen by the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. PVC, because of its high chlorine content, creates toxic pollution in the form of dioxins and furans, which accumulate in animals' fat and up through the food chain and the contamination of farmland. Exposure to PVC often includes potential contact with phthalates, which also have serious health effects. Besides health problems, there are a number of negative environmental impacts from the production and use of this material, such as problems in disposing of PVC, which is often very difficult (and not financially viable) to recycle. The recycling process itself has other environmental consequences you might not have even thought about.

So, is the answer to recycle plastics and PVC? That in itself is a challenging question for the PVC banner industry?

Yes, certain plastics are recyclable but how much of it is actually recycled?

According to Statista, of 29.1 million tonnes of plastic waste produced in the EU, only 4.72 million tonnes is recycled in the EU. A further 4.72 million tonnes is shipped outside of the EU to be recycled, although there is growing evidence significant amounts of this material is actually dumped into landfill or incinerated. 12.41 million tonnes are put into Energy Recovery while 7.24 million tonnes make it into Landfill.

KAVALAN believes that recycling isn’t the answer. Maybe the avoidance of using PVC coatings in the first place is a better option. So, seeing a future that has to be more responsible in terms of material usage, Kavalan has invested in developing a range of really cool, eco-friendly and sustainable printing materials that can be safely disposed of in any of Europe’s waste to energy plants.

First off, KAVALAN is a sustainable material ideal for the short-term banner market, among others. It is a printable (including double-sided) material with a water-based coating, which is ideal for indoor and outdoor use. It has impressive flatness and strength characteristics, consistent colour reproduction on both sides and can be used in all types of digital printers. Because of its special environmental characteristics, it was the material of choice for the 2018 World Economic Forum meeting. In addition to its great indoor and outdoor characteristics, Kavalan has also created a range of high-quality lightbox fabrics: ‘Moonlight’ for indoor applications and ‘Sunlight’ for outdoors. KAVALAN is committed to developing products that are sustainable and according to Nova, they can see a future where PVC becomes a material that is only used for specialist applications as opposed to being used as the current the standard.

KAVALAN has a strong CSR commitment as well. The holding company, Taya, signed an official Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the two parties will work together to promote sustainable development.

The MOU between UNEP and TAYA seeks to deepen the partnership between the two organisations to promote sustainable development goals. TAYA, with itsKAVALAN range of products, is the first (and only) company in our industry to have signed an agreement with UNEP and the signed MOU represents the first milestone of what we intend to do in the future.

Vincent Lin, VP of TAYA Canvas Group said, “I am a strong believer in green materials. We officially launched the KAVALAN range of products in FESPA 2017, Hamburg and we are committed to doing more for a sustainable future, and with the KAVALAN range of materials we know we can encourage our industry to participate more in a green lifestyle.”

Contact Nova Abbott here

For more information check here www.goforkavalan.com