soloinstaller
New Member
Serious question- I'm not a big hippie or anything but man do I feel terrible for the amount of waste I'm contributing to the landfill. Is there any way to recycle vinyl and scrap liners/transfer tape?
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What to do with all waste vinyl and liner?
- Thread starter soloinstaller
- Start date
JBurton
Signtologist
At best, laminate liner could be donated to a preschool for big drawings. Scraps of vinyl can be meticulously catalogued and organized, with a detailed list of sizes and colors, saving you multiple trips to the dumpster to throw them all out at once.
We tried to recycle poly and acrylic for a year or so, got these big ole 1" thick cardboard boxes, filled up about 8, and the company ghosted us. So we kept moving around these 8 crates, until we realized how cheap a full 40' dumpster was, and pitched it all at once.
Otherwise, scrap aluminum/steel goes to the scrap yard for pizza party cash!
We tried to recycle poly and acrylic for a year or so, got these big ole 1" thick cardboard boxes, filled up about 8, and the company ghosted us. So we kept moving around these 8 crates, until we realized how cheap a full 40' dumpster was, and pitched it all at once.
Otherwise, scrap aluminum/steel goes to the scrap yard for pizza party cash!
The Blind Signman
New Member
wow have you ever thought about all the trees that are made of the boxes your supplies come in? what about AMAZON the biggest, when it comes to waste...i bet you have no problem with them? is it because you and bezos share the same political views ? that it's OK for them...and Bezos has a 90 million dollar yacht and 440 private jets? what carbon footprint is that? calm down the world is not in danger from your few pieces of vinyl
Stacey K
I like making signs
I used to be a recycler, but my brother-in-law drove truck and told me it all goes to the same place (at least in my county) so I don't bother anymore. I watched a show a while back stating if you take all the landfills and make a football field out of them we've only used up to the 1 yard line so, you should be OK. I do other things to reduce waste at home and reuse but can't do much about it at work. To save space I roll all the waste up or fold it instead of just crunching it in a random ball. Takes up less space in the garbage can.
JBurton
Signtologist
It's so ludacris to me, I recall getting $.75/lb in the early 00's, now it's maybe .3, and aluminum cans are always higher.
victor bogdanov
Active Member
2 full 6YD dumpsters every week. Makes me happy jumping it to compact all the waste, more trash means I'm busy
Boudica
I'm here for Educational Purposes
I feel pretty accomplished when our trailer get's full. As long as it's not full of shame...
I also save the liner from (un marked) laminate to wrap up projects. Around Christmas time I like to make custom branded wrapping paper with it. I make a repeating pattern and print on the paper side with our UV flatbed.
When my kiddo was in middle school, they had a very creative design teacher who's dad used to own a print shop. I would give him all of our scraps for the kids to use to create with. Everything from cores to short rolls of vinyl and laminate, substrate scraps that aren't quite big enough for our averal small signs... they would come out with a truck, clean out the dump trailer, take it all away and it was a win-win.
We have a place in town called Art Salvage, and they like to take scraps from time to time.
Stacey K
I like making signs
Those are great ideas! I used to save some vinyl scraps for a gal but she started a business so I stopped. I had a guy picking up my cardboard but that became a hassle. I once had a customer scold me for throwing away all my cardboard but when I asked if she wanted it...she had a change of tune LOL I've used the cardboard rolls for fire starters and give things away sometimes, but most of it goes in the trash, unfortunately. I love the wrapping paper idea! Even for moving, the paper could be used for wrapping breakables.
We pay I think $250 to haul away a full 40ndt dumpster.... Do it every 2 weeks.
We go through 50-100 boxes of vinyl a month... Most of the cost in the dumpster is the pickup.... Recycling we don't pay for pickup, just to rent the container.... So we have a 20 ft we full up about 2 times a month... Actually saves us money.
We do 1-2 5 ft cubes of aluminum scraps a month... Make a few hundred off of it, so we recycle aluminum and steel as well.
We tried alupanel and Coro ... And even the plastic cores that vinyl comes in ... Did it for a month or two but it takes up way too much space in our shop. Only 1 supplier could do alupanel and they said it's mostly not worth it for the environment, so there's no point.
Liner and vinyl isn't recyclable due to the glue / wax on them.
We go through 50-100 boxes of vinyl a month... Most of the cost in the dumpster is the pickup.... Recycling we don't pay for pickup, just to rent the container.... So we have a 20 ft we full up about 2 times a month... Actually saves us money.
We do 1-2 5 ft cubes of aluminum scraps a month... Make a few hundred off of it, so we recycle aluminum and steel as well.
We tried alupanel and Coro ... And even the plastic cores that vinyl comes in ... Did it for a month or two but it takes up way too much space in our shop. Only 1 supplier could do alupanel and they said it's mostly not worth it for the environment, so there's no point.
Liner and vinyl isn't recyclable due to the glue / wax on them.
Texas_Signmaker
Very Active Signmaker
Mike Paul
Super Active Member
I’ll save some liner rolls to give to my painter / contractor customers to cover floors and such.
If no one wants them they go into the recycling container that gets picked up every two weeks…
In my town everything is commingled.
So plastic, glass, cardboard goes in same big green Waste Management can.
If no one wants them they go into the recycling container that gets picked up every two weeks…
In my town everything is commingled.
So plastic, glass, cardboard goes in same big green Waste Management can.