Australian retailer Mimco has partnered with a sustainable signage supplier to roll out a fabric take-back scheme.
AFI Branding, Australia’s largest fabric signage display manufacturer, has launched a sustainability initiative, and Mimco is the first retailer to sign up.
The partnership will see Mimco returning fabric from its in-store signage for recycling, a move which is hoped to divert 100 tonnes of fabric from landfill in the first year alone.
AFI Branding has teamed up with BlockTexx to launch the program, which is the first initiative of its kind in the Australian signage industry.
The ‘be sustainable’ fabric take-back scheme will see all of the returned fabric sorted and separated for repurposing.
Brad Poett, VM production manager at Mimco, says the initiative is part of the company’s broader efforts to combat waste.
“Mimco has proudly been using AFI’s ReFrame system for many years now,” he explains.
“Working towards our goal of promoting a good business journey through sustainable processes, we are proud to have worked with AFI Branding through the formative stages of this program. We are so happy that the recycling process will now be available locally and to more clients of AFI.”
Glenn Watson, managing director at AFI Branding says the initiative is a first for the sector.
“At AFI Branding, we print over 15,000 square metres of fabric per month,” he admits. “So we recognise that we have an important role to play in sustainability.
“After supplying the signage for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games last year, we were able to recycle many components but not all within Australia. We wanted to change this. We’ve spent a long time researching a solution and we are really excited to have created this initiative alongside BlockTexx.”
By Georgia Clark
This article first appeared on retailbiz
