Staying Green With Tecna

We pride ourselves on constantly adapting and evolving to provide a range of sustainable products, processes, and services for our partners. In doing so, we are motivating a bigger change within our industry to become as eco-friendly as possible. Stepping away from the single-use materials (like wood), T3 offers a greener and more sustainable way to create standout displays time and time again. We continuously evolve our product range, bringing a number of services in house so that we can be even more efficient.

Although it’s impossible to completely eliminate waste from the exhibition process, we always keep up to date with the latest technology and manufacturing advancements and strive to make a difference. We’re constantly making improvements whenever and wherever possible to recycle, reuse and significantly reduce our environmental impact.

We are actively encouraging using more sustainable print alternatives such as printing on recyclable textile substrates. We follow a strict recycling policy, any metal, wood, paper, or plastic products no longer needed are collected for recycling. These products are either used to create new materials or for generating green energy.

REPURPOSE & RECYCLE

Our founder & MD Simeon Wicks shares his thoughts on sustainability in today’s blog.

“Our eco commitment is very important to us as a business. Sustainability is not all about recycling or paying a company to plant trees. Sustainability is about having the least negative impact on Mother Earth. Sometimes this can even mean buying single use items which is normally frowned upon but actually, sometimes the recycling process can outweigh any carbon offsetting as this may not take into consideration other factors. Sometimes we need to think about the process more; for example, exhibition carpet could be taken by the main event contractor for all exhibitors, or perhaps there could be a recycling facility or drop off point on-site.

Maybe what we have to look at is how to do things differently. Using a display system rather than traditional materials almost always seems to be the greener option but is it? Well if you are transporting your stand halfway around the world, maybe we need a rethink. Maybe you could have utilised some simple walls from the show contractor avoiding all that carbon impact of shipping those large panels to site. Have you considered using a worldwide rental programme for something more complex? We can utilise our distributor network for our clients allowing us to focus on transporting essentials for the stand but rent the components from our partners. Even when you are shipping a compact system like T3 we still consider rental as an option for clients for this very reason.



Transport, storage and labour for installation are other factors that are rarely taken into consideration. You may have switched to a greener system but is it that much greener and is it really the best choice to go for. T3 being a framework system rather than a panel system it takes up to 90% less space meaning you can save up to 90% of your carbon footprint in transport, and dismantle time is significantly reduced. This along with less vehicles needed to transport the system means a significantly greener show with less traffic problems.

We also suggest other options now for carpet for example – maybe it’s not needed at all but opt for a recycled modular flooring system or use your T3 display system to create a stage, both save on the waste of traditional materials.

We have reviewed all aspects of our supply chain with being greener in mind, but we also need to deliver the best end results. The T3 system is not made of recycled aluminium nor is it made from recycled plastics, we could use recycled materials but when we looked into this the carbon impact was significantly more, however each beam we manufacture can be used over a thousand times again and again. Should a beam come to the end of its life we can simply replace the plastic end fittings and it’s good to go for another thousand times – now that’s RECYCLED.



We have discovered sometimes it better for the environment not to recycle the conventional way but to think outside the box. Now at Tecna we don’t throw away our fabric graphics we work with local colleges to create other useful items such as tote bags and where possible rigid graphics are cleaned and used again. We are work in progress and continue to focus on sustainability in everything we do whilst still delivering best in class to our customers.”

Our Sustainability Headlines

• All of our packaging and cardboard is recycled
• All show carpets and floor coverings are fully recycled or reused
• We have a full range of reusable, adaptable stand infrastructures for hire, which adapt seamlessly to your requirements without impacting the environment
• Our graphics are designed to be reused and we encourage clients to think of reusability at all touchpoints
• We use non-solvent based inks in all our graphics
• When our aluminium systems finally reach the end of their lifecycle, they’re fully recycled, ready to be given a new lease of life as something different
• All single use plastic products have been removed from our office
• All our office’s cleaning and hand sanitary products are refillable, eco-friendly and recyclable
• Keeping our company’s carbon footprint to a minimum is our priority & also for our client’s

How can your exhibition stand be more eco?

• Rent a stand from us. We have the largest rental inventories of exhibition system solutions in the UK.
• Our stock is maintained to a high standard and regularly refurbished. This means you can tap into our rental resource for all your exhibition requirements without having to spend unnecessary budget for one off usages.
• Renting reduces storage fees as well as less environmental impact.
• If you do decide to buy, our T3 modular exhibition system is lightweight and compact – this means low cost storage and shipping.
• Our T3 system is fully recyclable.

Want to read more – we have a blog about how to create a more sustainable exhibition stand.