Hey there. I'm a little late to this post, but I thought I would chime in since my office produces and collects tons and tons of this material and have had similar problems.
Our solution was to create a few simple bag templates, and produce them ourselves in-house. The original idea had been to resell them, but work is rarely light enough for us to take a day to just make bags. So lately - about once a year or so - we get with our Sustainability Committee and we'll have a sort of "craft day" where attendees can come and make some bags. We will also occasionally use them as part of an event where students can come by our office (or table, if elsewhere) and make and take some bags. It tends to be pretty popular.
A more recent development has been a local student organization working through the architecture school has started up. Their whole focus is using upcycled/recycled plastics on campus. They have procured a plastic shredder and a loom and make recycled textiles - hats, bags, etc. We've been looking into donating our banner material to them so they can make better use of our materials.
Here are some images of the bags we make:
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Julian Cearley
Manager, CreationStation
University of Houston
Houston TX
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-23-2021 20:03
From: Allison Van Den Berg
Subject: Vinyl banners - disposal or reuse?
These are all fantastic suggestions - thank you! I knew I could count on the ACUI community to teach me something new. We will definitely look into the reusable bag idea, and we've already contacted our bookstore to see if they would want to stock something like that as well. What a great opportunity to show off some sustainability efforts as well.
If you have more suggestions, please keep them coming!
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Allison Van Den Berg
Operations Coordinator
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC
acvanden@ncsu.edu
Original Message:
Sent: 04-23-2021 18:24
From: Gregory Wilkins
Subject: Vinyl banners - disposal or reuse?
Have you considered reaching out to your art department, sustainability campus committee, or clubs and organizations? They may have an interest in them. Another idea is provide them to student programmers as an DIY event on how to make drawstring backpacks with them.
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Gregory Wilkins
Associate Director, Centennial Student Union & Student Activities
Minnesota State University–Mankato
Mankato MN
Original Message:
Sent: 04-22-2021 14:54
From: Allison Van Den Berg
Subject: Vinyl banners - disposal or reuse?
Hi everyone,
We hang a significant number of vinyl banners in our Union throughout the year. Most of them are date-specific and therefore not reusable, and clients usually don't want them back. Until now, we've been throwing them in the dumpster. Does anyone do anything differently with them? I know there are companies that will buy them and turn them into bags/totes, but anything we sell has to go through state surplus here which can be a slow and tricky process. If you are a public institution, do you have to navigate any issues around state property? We don't want to just toss them anymore, so a sustainable solution would be welcome!
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Allison Van Den Berg
Operations Coordinator
North Carolina State University
Raleigh NC
acvanden@ncsu.edu
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