Aluminium

Focus on

It is safe to say that is the standard for the industry today, it is a versatile and pliant metal that when combined with heavy-duty plastics, create a great signage composite.

As well as the flexibility of the material, are a great substrate to place onto, as you can see here in the picture.

Archive for September, 2006, page 1

Old Computers – ‘White’ Trash

The term ‘‘ in this case does not refer to the lower echelons of the moral spectrum of society, it refers to the waste generated from old computers. What do we do with it?

As a company, we are obligated to have some moral responsibility. We recycle what waste we can, carefully dispose of chemicals we use, we even use to lessen the impact our work has on our fellow man (or woman). So we must ask ourselves what to do when we upgrade computers and have old delapidated computers left at the end of the process.

We can’t throw them out in the normal waste, they contain harmful chemicals. Could we send them to companies who specifically ? Or maybe donate them to museums who specialize in ancient ? (admittedly ours aren’t THAT old)

There are other alternatives available to the company getting rid of old computers. Donate them to firms who specialize in the computers, and sending them to third-world nations. Some refurbish the and send them to schools in the developing world. Others them in the local area.

One thing I noticed when I was looking at several of these companies was some advice to check with your local office to make sure the companies you have found are registered with them to handle waste electrical and electronic equipment. Good advice considering the dangerous chemicals present in computers (see here for a full breakdown of components).

A snippet of information I found on the Business Link (the ) website was this:

The requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive aim to reduce waste arising from electrical and electronic equipment and their environmental impact. UK regulations implementing the EC Directive are due to come into force from 1 January 2007 with producer responsibility coming into force from 1 April 2007, subject to further consultation.

And also, the NetRegs site has information on hazardous waste, but I am not sure it applies to the average small business, but rather to the large businesses producing vast quantities of electrical and hazardous waste.

This style of sign belongs to the news category. Click on that link to see more kinds of articles like this one.

Sign Placement

It goes without saying that putting a sign in the right place can mean all the difference, right? Placing a fire exit sign that points the wrong way, for example, is useless and quite frankly, dangerous.

This is why it is important for professional signmakers to fit the signs they make. Why? Because the sign fitters (especially here at GRS) have been trained in the correct placement of different types of signs. Take that fire exit sign I mentioned as an example. If it pointed to the right, would you place it well before the corridor has a right turn, just before the turn, or just above the right turn?

Another example that we run into several times is the correct placement of tactile and braille signs. Putting and above doorways for example, isn’t really thinking about who the sign is tailored towards – the visually impaired. Again, placing it too low, isn’t useful either.

GRS does follow a strict guideline when installing such signs, using the Sign Design Guide, which meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act.

This style of sign belongs to the braille signs,e-commerce,fire exit signs,tactile signs categories. Click on one of those links to see more kinds of articles like this one.

Printing Inks

The inks that GRS uses have been developed specifically to offer faster drying times and greatly increased media compatibility, yet are Laboratory certified as being 100% free of both cyclohexanone and isophorone.

That was the canned version from the website. What does it really mean? Well let’s just say that cyclohexanone and isophorone aren’t exactly naturally occurring in vast quantities. They have been manufactured like most things these days.

They are solvents that were used for many years in a variety of industries, including the printing industry (cyclohexanone is mainly used in the production of nylon, for example). Isophorone is used almost exclusively in the printing industry but is broken down fairly easily.

High levels of exposure to either chemical can be nasty, but not necessarily deadly. Removing such chemicals from use can mean healthier lives for those working in the printing industry, and less likelihood of exposure to the general public from solvent vapours present in printed products.

Making a good product is important, but not at the cost of people’s health, don’t you agree?

This style of sign belongs to the news,wide format printing categories. Click on one of those links to see more kinds of articles like this one.