Reusing Banner Vinyl

I work at a Printing and Graphic design company on the outskirts on Brisbane. We waste soooo much stuff (any eco ladies out there would cry if they looked in our bin!)

One of the items we waste oodles of is banner vinyl. It is the material that you print on and then stretch over BIG billboards. It comes in different thicknesses, some are a bit see through, some are black on the back. Most of the banner they throw in the bin is plain white, cut off the edges of banners before finishing them off for installation. Sometimes there are actual printed billboards or banners throw away with cool patterns and prints, but not as often. So i have been bringing home bunches of it and trying to work out the best way to re purpose it.

The best thing i have come up with so far is sewing some envelopes to use when sending out items sold from my shop.

Back

Two quick seams down the sides...A small embellishment on the flap and Viola! One recycled envelope, that could be reused by the receiver! Because my sewing machine is a 1960's full metal job, it handles it no troubles with a nice thick needle.

Front

We also waste alot of laminate (we use that to cover over stickers we print at work to add to durability, so i use the laminate to stick over the top of the postage sticker - atleast if my parcel ends up in the rain it wont get anywhere near the contents and the address won't wash off or smear! They also waste ooodles of vinyl i use the sticker vinyl to cut stencils for my screen printing.

So if there are anyone out there that lives near Brisbane and can pipck it up, or a Brisbane Brown Owl (i could bring it along to the next meeting) that could use some banner vinyl let me know, sometimes i can get big bits, some times long thin bits. You could make your own envelopes too or you might have other ideas, or just need some drop sheets for painting or screenprinting. It would make me happy to know that it is being reused instead just going in the bin. (and it would make my husband happy to know it isn't all just getting piled up in our house!)

I am going to have a crack at making a bags, aprons, and snack bags and stuff out of it too so stay tuned!