Material Selection : Environmental considerations and information

Material selection in the design process has developed significantly in recent years and designers now need to consider health and safety and environmental issues as well as functional aspects of their product designs.

The Ultra Board range of products has been developed for the general display industry and with Brand Owner, Retail specialists, Exhibition and signage companies seeking sustainable display solutions the product range is well positioned for internal display projects.

Dufaylite Developments Ltd is very active in working with its industry partners and associates to achieve the highest levels of Environmental Best Practice. We have laid the main foundation of our operational activity by achieving ISO 14001 Accreditation and are now working to ensure our products continue to develop to meet the sustainability challenges we all face. We are actively involved in the POPAI Green Project and recommend that anyone wanting to adopt environmental best practice in general display and particularly in POP projects, at any level, use this as their point of reference.

This section of the site aims to give a general description and comparison of Ultra Board with some of the traditional display materials.

• Rigid Pvc Board
• Foamed Pvc Board
• Recycled Pvc Board
• Foam Centred Board
• Display Board
• Corrugated Board

When designing displays a basic concept that is emerging, particularly for material selection, is the 3R's:

• Reduce
• Re-use
• Recycle

We have adopted this approach for the material comparisons

When selecting materials a Designer should adopt a more detailed set of Design Concepts and Strategies that cover all aspects of the display products life cycle. These cannot be fully considered for a general comparison, but are important when considering specific product designs. Our Business Development Team is keen to assist anyone involved in the specification, design procurement or use of sustainable display materials to advise on the benefits of Ultra Board for any of the concepts being adopted for a project.

These are the identified Industry Design Concepts/Strategies to consider

• Light-Weighting (Designing Out Material)
• Waste Reduction (All Types Of Waste: Energy, Material, Labour Etc) 
• Life Cycle Design (Creation To Disposal)
• Specification Of Eco-Preferable Materials
• Modular Design
• Low Energy Product Use (Energy Consumption Of Product)
• Product Simplification (Minimisation Of Components)
• Minimisation Of Different Materials
• Design For Disassembly (Deconstruction After Use)
• Design For Re-Use 
• Design For Updating
• Design For Longevity
• Design For Recycling
• Cradle To Cradle (Closed Loop Cycle Of Material Use)

Formal Guidelines for Environmental Best Practice are available to members of POPAI. http://www.popai.co.uk