“Sustainability is an issue that everyone must live by. Only if we all work together to achieve maximum sustainability can we keep this planet habitable,” says Hendrik Edel, Managing Director of EDEL Messereklame und Digitaldruck GmbH, msg medien-service-gmbh and Blickfang Werbetechnik GmbH.
EDEL was founded in Frankfurt in 1929 as a signage painting business. In the almost 100 years since, the family business has retained its heritage in craftsmanship and service while evolving into a manufacturer of signage and illuminated advertising. Today the company is one of the largest manufacturers of large format digital prints in the Rhine-Main area, the third largest metropolitan area in Germany.
A challenge and a point of professional pride
In 2024 EDEL undertook a large event branding project for the City of Frankfurt to coincide with Germany hosting a major European football tournament. The project would entail production and assembly of a variety of banners, signs and other communication media , all of which EDEL excels at. However, the client posed a further challenge: they wanted a product that was as sustainable as possible, but which would also stand up to the very short setup and response times that the project demanded.
Moreover, because the project would effectively be branding the city that is EDEL’s own backyard, getting it absolutely right was a point of pride: “It was a matter of particular importance to us as a Frankfurt and Bad Homburg company to support such an important football tournament and the associated fan zone to this extent,” adds Edel.
Meeting all of the customer’s requirements
EDEL turned to print media manufacturer and supplier com2C, who helped to find the solution they needed, in the form of the Kavalan range of PVC-free banner materials.
The Kavalan range of PVC-free banner and textile materials offers an environmentally friendly solution that weighs up to 45% less than its PVC counterparts and doesn’t compromise on print quality, strength, durability or usability. Including materials for indoor and outdoor signage and banner applications, as well as backlit graphics, sports banners, building wraps and interior wall coverings, all Kavalan materials have had independent Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) confirming their low impact eco-performance compared with traditional PVC banner and textile signage materials.
“With Kavalan we were able to use a product that enabled us to meet all of the customer’s requirements,” explains Edel.
Not only did the Kavalan range meet EDEL’s needs in terms of sustainability and ease of handling, but the proprietary Kavalan Eco Calculator also proved invaluable in securing the project. According to Edel: “Kavalan’s life cycle analysis was a great help in communicating during the tender process that we could use a sustainable material, and that we could open up a fun approach to cultivating the product can achieve savings in terms of water use, CO2 emissions and other environmental and health impacts.”
By turning LCA information into insightful and actionable comparable data, the proprietary Kavalan Eco Calculator enables print businesses to quantify and illustrate the environmental savings that are achievable through switching to PVC-free Kavalan materials.
“The most suitable material”
The project was printed on Kavalan Sunlight Weldable using both a Durst Rho 312R 3.2 metre roll-to-roll UV inkjet printer and a Durst P5 350 3.5 metre hybrid roll-to-roll/flatbed UV inkjet printer, before being cut on a Kongsberg C64 super-wide digital cutting table, and then welded with a Leister welding machine.
Felix Faller is Production Manager at EDEL’s site in Bad Homburg, where he is responsible for large format digital printing, including projects such as this. Discussing the ease of working with Kavalan materials, he says: “Welding PVC-free materials is generally a difficult task. After a few attempts, however, we found a very good setting on our machines to process the whole thing. We had already tested various PVC-free materials. In the end we stuck with Kavalan because it was the most suitable material for us.” He continues: “During production we had no problems with finishing of the material.”
Running over the course of four weeks and entailing production of more than 7,000m² of PVC-free banners, signage and other large format branding materials , the project was well received, both by the client and by the wider Frankfurt am Main region. In addition, by going PVC-free for the project, EDEL was able to achieve a 71% reduction in human health impacts and a 64% reduction in environmental impacts .
Taking big steps towards sustainable transformation
“Transformation will affect us all and with Kavalan we are taking big steps in the right direction. Products such as Kavalan, which combine sustainability and good processability, are leading digital large-format printing into the future,” concludes Edel. “This project not only reflects our commitment to quality and innovation, but also our responsibility to the environment.”
Rob Karpenko, European Sales Director, Kavalan comments: “This was such an exciting project to see Kavalan materials used in, because it really sets an example for other large scale events, sporting and otherwise, to aspire to. EDEL have shown that it truly is possible to produce vibrant and impactful visual communications on a huge scale while simultaneously minimising their environmental impact. We believe it sets a benchmark for the industry and look forward to seeing even more sports events going PVC-free with Kavalan in 2025 and beyond.”
Nova Abbott, Head of Marketing, Kavalan adds: “So many of the signage and banner applications used for sporting events have a very short lifespan, after which most end up in landfill or are incinerated. When sent to landfill, PVC takes decades to break down and can leach toxic compounds into the environment, while if incinerated, notoriously hard-to-monitor carcinogenic compounds can be emitted into the air. The good news is, every time Kavalan’s PVC-free materials are used for sports and other events, it takes us one step closer to reducing the wide format print industry’s environmental impacts and a PVC-free future. The numbers speak for themselves and can be seen in the fantastic reduction in human health and environmental impacts achieved by EDEL in this case.”
Watch the full story to see how EDEL is leading the way in eco-friendly event branding here: https://youtu.be/vpwFD7NhGHs
About Kavalan
First developed in 2008, KAVALAN is Taya Groups’ main focus for the large-format printing industry. KAVALAN is a range of LCA-certified PVC-Free materials for indoor and outdoor use including, but not limited to the following: advertising billboards, banner flags, posters and digital interior décor. All TAYA’s products are produced in accordance with international standards and regulations and have certifications such as ISO9001, ISO14001, REACH, RoHS, 6P and DIN4102-B1, to name a few.
About TAYA Groups
Founded in Taiwan in 1972, TAYA is a world-class producer and exporter of coated printing materials and its products have expanded into a comprehensive line that ranges widely across various industries throughout the world.
