Waste Management in the Exhibition Industry
In September 2020, UFI, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry released a report to address the issue of waste in the Exhibitions
Industry. The report was a first step in identifying the challenges faced by the Industry in terms of waste and sustainability and collated
some of the best practices around the world.
For those interested, the full report can be found here: Waste Management in the Exhibition Industry (September 2020) – UFI The Global Association of the Exhibition Industry.
For us, custom stand builders, those challenges are faced all the time; how do we provide the best design, the best stand without adding to the pile of waste. One of the contributors of the report summed up the dilemma as follows:
“Custom stands – stands being designed and manufactured offshore, flown to our country (at times with workers to assemble the stand) and then dumped to landfill after a three-day exhibition cannot be allowed to continue and is a blight on our industry”.
Everyone has seen the picture below; custom stands being destroyed after an Exhibition and the debris just going to landfill.
Key issues identified in relation to Exhibition stands were as follows:
• Materials used–most commonly wood which is heavy and bulky.
• Lack of understanding or even basic awareness of sustainability from those commissioning exhibition stands.
• Lack of awareness of sustainable options amongst suppliers.
• Cost of sustainable materials.
• Appropriate disposal of stands in short timeframes, often responsibility for disposal is not clear (or those responsible e.g. contractors cannot be identified).
While the report depicts more challenges across the whole industries (Venues, Organisers, Exhibitors, Vistors, etc.), what can we, stand builders, do to help breaking the vicious circle and contribute to a sustainable transition within the Exhibition World?
We use modular stand building systems made from aluminium, that can be endlessly reused. This applies to our custom stands but also to our shell scheme shows. The same goes with our infills. For shell scheme booth, we use Velcro compatible fabric on special substrates. We use those infills for a very long time, some of our panels are almost 20 years old. As additional benefits, being Velcro compatible, the exhibitors save on side of the Velcro. Plus, our fabric is made of recycled materials and or infills are chemical resistant and fire retardant. They do cost more to produce, but we believe that this is worth the effort. For custom stands, we like to promote our digitally printed fabric as it can be recycled as well. We also carry a large inventory of modular LED tiles that integrate seamlessly into our fabrication. Sustainability does not have to be boring; we can deliver the wow factors over and over again
How do we raise awareness of sustainable options with our customers. It starts at the brief stage.
The customer wants a one-off stand – then the modular system becomes a strong value proposition. The one off requirement comes most of the time with a budget constraint; renting a frame structure will always be cheaper than building one from scratch (for a like for
like complexity).
The customer wants a stand for a 3 to 4 use cycle -then the modular approach makes sense as well. For one, the exhibitor is not guaranteed the exact same footprint location or stand orientation from one show to the next. Our system will provide a greater flexibility to accommodate those constraints. What happens once the show is over? We don’t dispose of our aluminium frames, we put them in our inventory, ready for the next design. This means that our customer will save on storage rental between the shows as well.
How do we make the design interesting? After all, we use frames that are within set sizes, so you could fear that the designs are becoming repetitive and boring. That’s when our creativity comes into play. The selection of infills (like digitally printed fabrics), the integration of LED modules or some creative rigging are a few options allowing us to make things vibrant and interesting, but tailored to our customer needs.
If one of our customers has a show overseas, no problem. We won’t be looking into transporting the whole stand from Australia. This is a
non-sense from a carbon footprint perspective, and this is also cost prohibitive. The solution; our network of partners. We do the design
and the specifications of the stand, then we find a local partner using our system. We discuss and adapt the specifics based on local regulations and we then we project manage the build.
We’re not saying that we have the solution to all the challenges. But we strive in helping to change our industry into a more sustainable
one, by using innovative modular systems and creativity.
One stand at a time.