Bigger Picture. Better Products. Smaller Impact!
Environmental protection is a priority for the conservation of natural resources and the continued welfare of our planet. The Flag Shop recognizes it’s responsibility as a global citizen & continually strives to reduce the environmental impact & carbon footprint of the work we do & the products we make.
Minimizing the impact of our growth
We know that the most important thing we can do to reduce our impact on the environment is to improve our products’ environmental performance. That’s why we design them to use lesser material, ship with smaller packaging, be free of toxic substances, be as recyclable as possible, and use recycled materials wherever applicable. So as our growth continues to outpace that of the rest of the industry, The Flag Shop remains committed to creating products that have the least impact on the environment. Though our revenue has grown, our greenhouse gas emissions per rupee of revenue have decreased over the years.
Material Use
Fabrics – We make use of the best quality fabrics for our flags & banners as they are 100% recyclable and bio-degradable as compared to flex/vinyl that are dumped straight to the landfill, where depending upon the type of PVC (polyvinyl chloride) used, can take hundreds of years to break down. In addition, fabrics are 1/3rd or even 1/2 (depending upon the fabric quality) the weight of the flex/vinyl banners of the same size. Fabrics consume less material & energy during pre-production & production too. Unlike vinyl banners that can be used only once & then thrown into the landfill, fabrics can be re-used multiple times as they face no risk of creases, twists or damage, which eventually leads to lesser replacements, lesser wastage & lesser pollution.
Dyes – Our top-of-the-line disperse dyes used on our exclusive polyester fabrics are of high energy, having fast colours & excellent UV resistance to avoid fading in sunlight, as well as upon washing at relatively high temperatures. They are also environmentally friendly, being VOC-free. Vinyl/flex banners on the other hand, use solvent based inks which are carcinogenic.
Printing – We strongly believe that printing doesn’t necessarily have to harm our ecosystem & our planet. Our state-of-the-art manual & automatic flat-bed screen printing tables, rules out the possibility of excessive or wasteful printing, as it can all be controlled manually. Using manual printing methods, helps to reduce power & energy consumption, thereby making the printing process cost-effective.
MDF – Although flag manufacturers worldwide, still use wood & wooden accessories, we prefer to use MDF (medium-density fibreboard) as it is made almost entirely from recycled materials & is a great substitute for wood.
Toxic substance removal
Designing & manufacturing greener flags & flag accessories means considering the environmental impact of the materials used to make them. From the plastic, wood and metal in our products to the paper and ink in our packaging, our goal is to continue leading the industry in reducing or eliminating environmentally harmful substances.
One of the environmental challenges facing our industry today is the presence of toxic substances such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in flex/vinyl banners and other accessories and packaging etc. Although most countries still allow use of these substances, we have completely eliminated the use of PVC in our products & packaging. Not only is every product we sell free of other harmful toxins, we have also qualified numerous components, dyes & chemicals to be free of elemental bromine and chlorine, putting us years ahead of anyone else in the flag manufacturing industry.
Environmentally conscious materials
In addition to eliminating toxins and designing products with highly recyclable aluminum & steel etc, The Flag Shop works with environmentally conscious materials including recycled plastics, recycled paper, biopolymers, and vegetable-based inks.
Responsible manufacturing
The Flag Shop is committed to ensuring that working conditions in our manufacturing facilities are safe, workers are treated with respect and dignity, and manufacturing processes are environmentally responsible, thereby dynamically reducing our carbon footprint. At The Flag Shop, we care just as much about how our products are manufactured as we do about how they are designed.
