Material World: How green can we get?

As we enter a supermarket or a retail store we are welcomed by stylish POP displays subtly luring us to pick up that product off the shelf. But even as we succumb to the lure of all that jazzy retail communications, little do we realise that often the materials used for creating these outstanding units are not eco friendly.

For the retail solutions industry it then becomes a matter of responsibility to provide right visibility with sustainable solutions.  But how open is the industry or that market for that matter to adopt a more eco responsible approach?


The West might already be warming up to the idea of using eco friendly materials,but  there is still a long way to go in creating a demand for sustainable solution for the retail industry - both in the Eastern and in Western market.

A few materials are of course banned in some countries, but India has no such restrictions when it comes to using materials and inks which could have serious threat to the environment. As Ragesh Bhatia, Director, Rex Entertprises puts it, "The POS industry is one of the most eco-unfriendly industries with excessive use of harmful products such as PVC (Sunboard, Flex, Vinyl) - banned in many western countries and also several printing processes with harmful solvents, paints and inks."

Along similar lines he adds, "There have been a few companies like Unilever who are leading the sustainability initiative in India. We have actively tried to partner them by offering PVC free solutions and have completely stopped the use of Sunboard for them in the last 3 years. In fact we have reduced our Sunboard usage to all clients by 95%. Surprisingly this has not at all affected our bottomline and in fact we have succeeded in offering more premium and value added solutions, and helped us, upgrade our own offerings." Sharing further details he adds,"We are marketing Eco Flex a 100% PVC free and 100% recyclable flex and vinyl that has been indigenously developed by Universal Products and is quite competitive on the cost front as well.  In fact the vinyl is the only one in the world to offer a 100% recyclable backing as well."

Mahesh Shinde, Director, DMS Retail Works Pvt Ltd adds, "Eco friendly materials will take a while to become mainstream; only a few can work with eco friendly materials but there are many who would prefer the usual material options which are also cheaper versions as the term eco friendly is more premium and there will always be a demand for he cheap alternatives which are not eco friendly."

Ibrahim Causubhoy, VP - Marketing Sudoku Communicaitons adds that though they would like to work with eco friendly materials there is no demand for them. Says he, "We want to promote eco friendly materials and consider ourselves as the biggest supporters of eco friendly materials but the retail scene in India needs to warm up to the idea of using the greener alternative. The clients and brands have a choice to use sustainable materials but just because of increase in cost they would not take up the idea. Sadly brand managers we speak insist on using cheap materials which are often enviornmentally unfriendly. The choice is with the brands to take initiative for green alternative which can have major impact."

EWL Retail Display Ltd for its part has created Pro Spin bins which are flexible  sales promotion bins. They have high utility value as they can be reused again with different branding which makes it eco friendly and cost effective alternative. The displays come in three panels  which can be put together and by adjoining the panels and inserting a base and shelf it is good to go. Says Sachin Gaikwad,Project Head, EWL, "The displays have received a encouraging feedback from the client."

Haresh Mehta, MD, Jayna Packaging Pvt Ltd who works only with corroborated board explains, "We work with cardboard material and it is beautiful material which can be used with such diversity. It is eco friendly, cost effective, and durable. My specialty, USP is working with corroborated cardboard I don't want to work  with any other material. Even a coffin can be created of cardboard. We try to make the clients understand the material and its diverse nature which is recyclable and is not hazardous, with no sharp corners, and it is high on economical. The material is so strong that you can make children's furniture, lampshades, frames and lots of other things with it."

Ragesh adds, "Several companies have adopted this already for use in dealer boards, standees and retail branding.Products like these have huge scope in the future and awareness must be created for such materials. Only if the top management pushes for eco friendly solutions, will there be acceptability. Currently all brand performances are internally rated only in terms of visibility and sales - hence lower management is apathetic to eco friendly substitutes and want to follow the easier traditional methods. Sustainability needs to be built into performance audits for this to be able to gain a wider acceptability and actually create a positive change.We were one of the first to offer eco friendly printing technologies such as Hp's latex and eco friendly inks for screen printing. Lastly, energy efficiency needs to be built into production processes - self powered cooling towers, led lighting, solar / wind power support - though require capital investments, will all actually help reduce the energy costs in the long run."

Like in most cases, the onus is on all stake holders—the retail soluions providers (to take inititatives in  researching on and offering eco freindly materials and convincing the client about it), the retailers (to be open to having these at their outlets on a priority basis) and brands (to be focsued on using only sustainable visibility solutions for their branding at retail) lt all boils down to clear communication between the brand and the solution provider to come up with a visiblity option which is not only eye catchy at retail level, but is also sustainable. And, though discarding a temporary POP display is difficult without harming the environment, there is still a ray of hope for the eco friendly materials which will enjoy a wider reach in a few years to come time as brands and retail solution providers adopt a more proactive attitude to adopting them.

Pics Courtesy: EWL Retail Display Ltd