UNTIL RECENTLY, it may have seemed as though the negative environmental impacts of PVC were just the cost of doing business in the wide-format print industry. Eco-friendly alternatives either simply were greenwashed into appearing so, or they did not deliver the flexibility, durability, and tear resistance that sign makers need from their materials.

Thankfully, however, the technology has advanced and there now are viable PVC-free alternatives. These already are popular in Europe, where numerous wide-format print businesses already have made a wholesale switch to PVC-free banner materials. But during the past two years we’ve also seen interest growing across the U.S.

Kavalan Sunlight Weldable was used for Embrace Building Wraps’ project for IKEA in Oxford Circus in London, England. PHOTO: EMBRACE BUILDING WRAPS

WHY IS PVC A PROBLEM?

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), or simply “vinyl” to many, is the world’s third most widely produced plastic polymer (after polyethylene and polypropylene). Relatively inexpensive, you can find it in everything from packaging, food wrap, home furnishings, and children’s toys to building materials, hospital supplies, and numerous other products. In the signage industry, PVC substrates widely are used in applications such as building wraps, event banners, display graphics, and billboards. PVC is everywhere and yet this ubiquitous material also is one of the most toxifying on the planet.

Vinyl chloride, the gas used to make PVC, is classified as a human carcinogen by the EPA1 and NCI2. PVC is rendered more harmful when phthalates — known to be endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs)3 — are added to make it flexible. Finally, if disposed of by burning, PVC gives off noxious compounds, while when sent to landfill it can leak these into the environment.

According to the UN Environment Programme, there has been a 66% increase in pollution-related deaths during the past 20 years and pollution is now responsible for 9 million deaths globally every year4. PVC, especially during its production phases, is unquestionably a contributor to these horrifying figures.

Too many sustainability initiatives focus on recycling our way out of trouble or offsetting carbon emissions. This allows for far too little focus on wider environmental impacts. So instead, we should look at every impact of a product throughout its life cycle. When you do that, it becomes clear that impact reduction needs to take place as early as possible in the product life cycle.

We’ve seen many attempts to downcycle waste PVC signage materials into other products, but unfortunately this compounds the problem because it doesn’t address the root cause — the production of PVC materials. The only way to safely dispose of PVC is to not produce or use it in the first place.

ENVIRONMENTAL SAVINGS

According to market research provider Smithers, the global printed signage market produced around 10 billion square meters of printed signage in 2023, of which 17% was printed in North America5. That equates to 1.7 billion square meters of printed signage in North America.

Naturally, not all signage is printed on vinyl. Fabric, paper, and rigid materials also are popular substrates, but if even one fifth of that volume is printed on PVC. That equates to 340 million square meters of unrecyclable, toxic plastic signage being produced in North America in just one year, contributing to environmental toxification and pollution.

According to Kavalan’s proprietary LCA-based Eco Calculator, switching to PVC-free would result in at least a 71% reduction in human health impacts, a 64% reduction in environmental impacts, and a 35% reduction in resource consumption6. Even if you only consider the reduction in impact on human carcinogenic toxicity from switching just half of that 340 million to PVC-free alternatives, that savings would be equivalent to more than 23 million years of human life7.

Print Station in England used Kavalan Gecko 320 GB, a wallcovering material, for the interiors of the Garden of Eden restaurant. PHOTO: PRINT STATION

WHY CONSIDER DROPPING PVC?

Aside from environmental and human health impacts, several other factors are driving signage businesses to explore sustainable alternatives to PVC. Chief among these alternatives is an increasing focus on sustainability measurement and reporting among businesses. supply chain sustainability, and a desire from marketers for advertising mediums that are as green as their messaging.

In the world of sustainability measurement, many businesses (and those who regulate their reporting) already are seeking a more holistic view of their impacts. For example, a growing focus on Scope 3 emissions means many are considering emissions sources such as extraction and production of materials they use and even disposal of their products. These indirect emissions account for more than 70% of most businesses’ carbon footprints8. Although the SEC announced last March that it would be excluding Scope 3 from its sustainability reporting regulations, the climate disclosure rules that come into force in California in 2026 do include them. Many businesses already are including Scope 3 in their sustainability performance targets and associated reporting.

However, sustainability is about far more than carbon emissions. As growing numbers of companies factor supply chain sustainability into their procurement policies, taking action to measure, manage, and reduce wider environmental impacts is becoming a business imperative for signage and other wide-format print businesses. This makes it increasingly important to work with partners and suppliers that are can credibly quantify the environmental impact of the goods and services they supply.

It is not only businesses’ sustainability teams scrutinizing supply chains; this increasingly is falling into the domain of marketers too. Just as brand and category managers are considering the materials and recyclability of their packaging, so too are marketers working to ensure that their campaign materials and production are as “green” as their brand messaging. While naturally this began with brands with a green or environmental ethos, growing numbers of advertising, creative, and media agencies are signing up to industry-wide “clean advertising” initiatives that will have ramifications for print buying in all formats.

For brands that actively are promoting their sustainability initiatives, the risk of being accused of hypocrisy by, for example, promoting their new eco-friendly packaging using PVC billboard advertising may not be worth taking. Similarly, reams of toxifying PVC graphics emblazoned with an eco-brand’s logo being hauled to a landfill could be a PR disaster.

In Zurich, Switzerland, Kavalan Spiderweb 300 L!ner is being used in Zurich’s longest art exhibition at IM VIADUKT. PHOTO: FRISCHKNECHT AG

MAKING THE SWITCH

Historically, many PVC-free alternatives available to the display graphics market were expensive and didn’t match the performance of PVC. This quite simply is no longer the case.

Since 2019, growing numbers of businesses in Europe and the UK have been making the switch and finding that the print performance, flexibility, tensile strength, tear resistance, and weldability of PVC-free materials match those offered by traditional PVC, but with a lower weight and none of the toxicity. As demand has grown, the cost of eco-materials also has become much more similar to PVC options. In addition to which, growing numbers of customers are willing to pay a little more for a well-performing sustainable product.

As with any material, it is important to work with your media suppliers to test material samples. For all the testing that the supplier themselves may have done, if you evaluate a material’s print performance, strength, and durability yourself before recommending it to a customer, you can be confident that it will stand up to whatever its environment throws at it.

Aside from performance and affordability, many customers also are looking for transparency as they seek out sustainable options. Given the reporting-related motivations behind many sustainability initiatives, it is vital that signage and wide-format print businesses can produce data on the environmental impact of whatever substrates they use.

Whatever your reason for considering a switch, it’s clear that the clock is running down on PVC. The time to go PVC-free is now.