All Wrapped Up

Embrace Building Wraps, the UK’s leading printed scaffold and building wrap specialist, are helping lead the way in tackling climate change. As pioneers in PVC-free printed wraps and experts in repurposing spent PVC wraps, they know what it takes to make a difference, as ScaffMag discovered

The message from Greg Forster, Managing Director at Embrace Building Wraps, is clear: when it comes to the climate change challenge the company takes its environmental responsibility very seriously. He explained: “Our environmental commitments lead the field in the building wrap and printed scaffold banner industry, from PVC-free banners to carbon offset initiatives.

“We recognise climate change is a critical global issue carrying significant implications for us all. Here at Embrace we ensure there will never be a conflict between supporting the future of our planet and turning a profit. It is with a great deal of pride we are playing a role in the transition towards a more sustainable and environmentally improved future through our policies, procedures and commitments.”

It’s a journey they embarked upon more than two years ago with the repurposing of the wraps they remove at the cessation of their clients’ display into the agricultural sector as part of the unique Banner Karma™ initiative. In fact, they are working with the construction sector to reuse their mesh PVC wraps as permeable geotextile membrane alternatives, also supplying end-of-life flexible substrates for upcycling into bespoke handbags.

“Vitally Embrace are the first operator in the UK to move away from PVC substrates to more environmentally friendly, PVC-free alternatives wherever suitable for our clients,” added Greg. “We now actively offer PVC-free products on our printed scaffold and building wraps in every proposal we send out. It’s helped us win more business.

“Our journey to recommend and use a suitable product took six months as the wraps we use need to be fit for purpose in terms of print, manufacture, installation and durability.”

The company carried out their own in-house testing on print quality to ensure the material delivered the same visual appearance and manufacturing process involving both heat and vibration welding. It was vital to ensure the structural integrity of the material’s conducted pull tests to ensure it was robust.

Greg confirmed: “We sent our PVC-free substate for fire tests and these passed at SGS, a UKAS-certified fire test centre, both in its natural state off the roll and with our chosen cured inks to BS 5867 Type B.

“The substate itself has the manufacturer’s supporting fire test reports to EN13501-1 and DIN 4102-1 standard, so we have a complete belt-and-braces approach on this front.

“Operationally, the PVC-free alternative is much easier for the lads to load up onto the print machines, onto vehicles ready for installation, lifting onto the scaffold and hoisting into position. The same goes for the removal process. The great news is we will still send the material to be repurposed as it offers a waterproof covering. Moreover, it’s lighter down on the farms too, and then, even when the second life of the wrap is over, the material can be sent for energy-from-waste disposal.”

To ensure Embrace Building Wraps maintain a climate-positive workforce they signed up to the charity Ecologi, back in December 2020. It’s also company policy every time they install a building wrap or a printed scaffolding banner, to make an additional investment into 11 projects around the globe to remove CO 2 emissions from the atmosphere.

“Every month we plant trees in Mozambique, Madagascar, Nicaragua and here in the UK. We also fund some of the world’s best climate crisis solutions to offset CO 2 e, such as clean energy through hydropower in Kanungu, Uganda, geothermal power production in West Java, Indonesia and converting landfill gas to energy in northern Turkey.”

It gets even better too, having recently installed the world’s largest scaffold wrap at more than 8,500m 2 , as they also have arrangements in place to ensure all of the printed substrate will be repurposed at the end of the display period.

Greg told us: “We chose to mark the landmark achievement by increasing the size of our global forest to match the same square-metre area. To this end we planted 6,000 trees in Marotoala, Madagascar, located in an evenly balanced mix of mangroves and non-mangrove sites.

“Collectively the expected coverage of the Embrace Building Wraps global forest will now exceed 11,000m 2 which is approximately equivalent to the footprint of Trafalgar Square.”

There can be no argument that this combined effort is anything other than a force for good as this visionary company continues to make a difference. They unquestionably play a significant role for the benefit of everyone across the globe. You can see more on Embraced Building Wraps’ Ecologi profile.

But everyone across the industry and beyond can make a difference too – so why not feel empowered, challenged and inspired in taking real climate action? Sign up to Ecologi (https://ecologi.com/ plan), and they’ll add 30 trees to both your new global forest and that of Embraced Building Wraps.