Natural Grocer & Co-op Reduces Waste and Saves Time & Money by Eliminating Lamination

The Community Food Co-op began using REVLAR waterproof paper for their signage needs in 2013. Prior to that, they were using laminated card stock, which did the job, but was expensive and time-consuming to produce.

With departments like a garden center, bakery and deli, the Community Food Co-op was challenged with producing signage that would stand up over time, especially in high-traffic areas or places where moisture was common.

“To ensure the longest life for the finished product, we created our laminated signage in a two-step process,” explains Habiba Sial, the Community Food Co-op’s graphic designer. “We designed, printed, and cut each individual sign, then laminated them and trimmed them again...the lamination process took time away from other more important tasks.”

Making the leap from lamination to synthetic paper

After years of laminating, the Co-op’s Sustainability Program Coordinator Melissa Elkins began to review synthetic-paper options as a potential replacement, but there was an additional challenge: the paper needed to be recyclable to pass muster. Fortunately, REVLAR met those recycling requirements. The Co-op is deeply committed to sustainability and ecological responsibility:

“The laminated signs couldn’t be recycled, so they just went into the garbage,” says Elkins. “We closely track all our recycling efforts. As our company’s sustainability program coordinator, I’m always looking for ways to cut back on our landfill contributions, and REVLAR has definitely fulfilled this requirement. We love that our REVLAR signs can be recycled.”

Time savings that add up

With REVLAR, the process to create signage is much simpler because the signs only need to be cut once. Sheets of REVLAR are preprinted with a light green color to create a two-tone color image, and individual department managers just run the sheets through black and white printers to add text as the signs are needed.

Don't forget actual cost savings

In addition to time savings, Community Food Co-op has benefitted from cost savings with REVLAR. “Laminating a typical piece of cardstock cost about $1.17 per sheet for the lamination alone; the REVLAR plus toner is as much as $0.20 less per sheet,” Elkins says.

To learn more about the Co-op’s recycling efforts and how REVLAR waterproof paper made it happen, read the full case study here.

If you’re a grocer who is interested in trying our signage solutions for yourself, request a free REVLAR Premium sample kit here or click on the button below. We’d love to show you all we have to offer!