At Tecna UK, sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. From the design, build and delivery of modular displays to the way we function as a business and contribute to our community, we continue to develop our practices and materials to reduce our impact on the environment.
Our purpose is to support and promote a sustainable events industry, so the consideration of sustainability is core to our every business process.
Events have always been known for high levels of waste. According to research, the events industry generates around 1.2 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions each year. At Tecna UK we believe everyone should be doing their bit to make environmentally conscious choices, to minimise the negative impact of events as much as possible.
We are taking responsibility for our environmental and social impact – and are continuing to make real improvements across our business to support a more sustainable future.
Take a look at the sustainable improvements we are making across our business. If you have a specific question or want to talk about how we can help you with your next event, feel free to get in touch!
Tecna UK are signed up to the Net Zero Carbon Events Pledge, helping to pave the way for a more sustainable future in the events industry. Along with other key stakeholders in the events industry we have committed to support the goal of net zero greenhouse gas by 2050 and reducing by 50% by 2030.
Our high standards mean that we review every business process to ensure environmentally conscious steps are taken wherever possible. We want our customers to feel comfortable knowing that we are serious about sustainability, and that we are committed to meeting and surpassing industry standards.
Having met high standards across 12 different aspects of sustainability management, we’re proud to be the first exhibition stand builder to be awarded the highest tier ESSA Sustainability Accreditation.
“Tecna UK's attainment of Tier 5 within the ESSA Sustainability Accreditation underscores their exceptional dedication to sustainability. This achievement establishes them as an industry leader in sustainable excellence, showcasing their impressive contributions to a more environmentally conscious future.” - ESSA H&S Manager, Josh Taylor
Events are an amazing way to bring together like-minded individuals in the search of knowledge and development, but they can take a heavy toll on resources, society, and the environment. Tecna UK have been certified ISO 20121 compliant – the leading international standard for sustainable events and their management systems. We offer a process-based dedication to sustainability in the events industry, across all areas of our business.
We also work to the Better Stands Program criteria and have been awarded Gold status for client stands.
Every customer has different needs from their modular display systems. The flexibility of our services allows our clients to not only find the right support for their needs, but also avoid unnecessary waste and emissions. We'll work with you to find more sustainable alternatives for every element of your project.
Modular exhibition systems provide a more environmentally friendly and cost-effective way of creating one-off configurations with less environmental impact. Our modular framework is durable and reconfigurable, allowing us to reuse products across multiple projects and purposes. It’s lightweight and compact nature allows for easy storage in our onsite warehouse and efficient transportation.
Some of our customers are looking for a sustainable and cost-effective way to create stand displays that can be reused across their entire event calendar. A focus of our business practice is to provide high quality stand designs that offer the most from our customers budgets. The benefit of purchasing a modular display system is that it has the capability to be reconfigured in a variety of ways to suit each event. Our design team work closely with clients to understand their event requirements and create a design using elements that are adaptable to various floor spaces.
All of our stands are available for rental or purchase and our team can advise on the best solution for you.
The culmination of our work in sustainable procurement and processes during 2023 allows us to deliver net zero stand builds, with every core material having the option to be reused, or recycled post show. The perfect sustainable solution for your next event.
We have sourced partners who can offset whatever CO2e has been generated, however, it’s been a crucial part of our roadmap to ensure we’re taking all possible mitigation action first before we pursue a carbon offset or tree planting solution.
To support our clients in their sustainability journeys, we can provide carbon reports post show for stand builds showing carbon generated, what we did to reduce this, and advice on how to reduce their impact for future events.
We only work with sustainable suppliers and have a sustainable procurement policy, both for materials we consume in high quantities such as print and flooring, but also in everyday choices, including office consumables & cleaning products.
Completely removing all waste within the exhibition process is pretty much impossible, but we need to start somewhere! We continually research the materials we use both internally and for our clients, to provide sustainable offerings across our services.
Stepping away from single-use materials (like wood), our UK manufactured aluminium system offers a uniquely sustainable construction method to create standout displays. It provides a durable, lightweight, and versatile build. The reusable components offer the option of multiple configurations for a range of purposes time and time again, providing both flexibility and reduced waste.
The system easily packs down into flight bags, taking up less space whilst travelling as well as reducing shipping and storage costs for our clients.
We actively encourage the use of reusable materials across multiple shows or purposes to maximise their life cycle. Our quality tested sustainable print materials and inks span across a range of fabrics and fishes to make sure your exhibition stand still packs a visual punch.
Investing in high quality materials for your eco friendly stand provides a great opportunity to promote your brand and reduce waste.
Rather than being thrown away at the end of an exhibition, our carpet and vinyl floorcovering options are reused on multiple events to maximise their lifecycle and reduce waste. When finally at end of life, we recycle at source – only working with suppliers who can demonstrate their eco credentials and recycle 100% of the flooring.
The Eco Floor exhibition platform we use is a great eco-friendly alternative to timber - made from a developed, recycled plastic formula. It has a lifespan of 10 years at which point it can be recycled again causing 0% waste.
Our range of furniture, accessories and lighting is available to rent alongside exhibition stands and is then returned to our in-house storage facility and reused again and again, reducing post event waste for our clients.
For any custom wood features on our exhibition stands, we only use FSC certified wood. If the item can’t be reused in future designs, it’s sent to our recycling partner who chips and uses it as a biomass fuel for local power stations.
Exhibition stands, conference sets, retail displays, entrance features, registration desks, point of sale, photobooths, experiential displays, counters and bars – the possibilities are endless.
In addition to presenting our customers with sustainable choices, we have made huge strides in reducing the footprint of our production facility, in waste and energy usage. We strive to take sustainable steps in every aspect of our work; this includes our solar powered warehouse and how we dispose of unwanted materials and products.
Through our carbon reporting we identified our energy usage was a key contributor to our carbon footprint so we implemented solar power allowing us to reduce our consumption from non-renewable sources by over 80%. We continue to work on aligning our peak power consumption with our peak generation to further reduce this number.
Our zero to landfill goal has been a significant project for us, and we have made waste to energy partnerships, reviewed our sorting and storage of waste, and had a total review of the type of raw materials we source to ensure we have a sustainable route for offcuts, wastage etc.
Ensuring we follow a strict recycling policy, any metal, wood, paper, or plastic products no longer needed are collected periodically for recycling. These products are either used to create new materials or for generating green energy.
We have created a Tecna UK sustainability working group and Sustainability Champions within the business to ensure action across all departments.
In 2023 we published our sustainability policy and sustainability goals as part of our roadmap, shared with customers, suppliers and stakeholders to ensure we are accountable for our progress and decisions we make as a business.
We have car share and cycle to work schemes available to staff, to reduce the emissions of travelling to work.
We're committed to working towards a zero waste to landfill standard across Tecna UK, and have already started our work towards achieving zero waste to landfill by improving our waste management and partners, including:
At end of use, our customers can return stock to us, and we will refurbish or recycle at our UK based facility.
When materials reach end of life, our zero to landfill goal means customers can return their graphics to us for recycling, through our network of recycling partners. One of these that we are most proud of is our connections with local colleges who utilise our waste fabrics for their textile courses, and the ability to turn old graphics into tote bags for customers to use as giveaways.
Using more than 50,000sqm of print per annum, this change has the potential to save over 29 tons of material going to landfill.
Rather than being thrown away at the end of an event, our carpet and vinyl floor-covering options are reused at multiple events to maximise their lifecycle and reduce waste. When finally at end of life, we recycle at source, recently moving all our flooring solutions to a partner that demonstrates their eco credentials through their zero to landfill policy. A great example of this is their reuse of our carpets in the production of garden furniture.
In addition to presenting our customers with sustainable choices, we have made huge strides in reducing the footprint of our production facility, in waste and energy usage.
Our zero to landfill goal has been a significant project for us, and we have made waste to energy partnerships, reviewed our sorting and storage of waste, and had a total review of the type of raw materials we source to ensure we have a sustainable route for offcuts, wastage etc.
We realise sustainability isn’t just about the environment, and we have a wider ambition to achieve all our ESG objectives.
Since 2016 we have worked with Dreamflight, a UK charity that takes children with serious illness or disability on a holiday of a lifetime. Tecna UK provide the entrance features within the departure area of the airport free of charge with the team giving up their time to install and dismantle.
We are now signed up to the Community Matters Partnership which runs community based events throughout the year, enabling our team to volunteer to help local charities. This years events include:
Plus we will have 2 projects developed just for us throughout the year.
For the first time last year we volunteered at One Day at Christmas, an events industry Christmas party for senior citizens at Farnborough International. We provided staff and a Tecna Advent Tree for the event and will be volunteering again this year.
We donate materials after use such as hand sanitiser units to local charity A Good Thing for them to give out to organisations in need. So far, we have made donations to:
We recognise the importance of reducing our environmental footprint and making a positive impact on our industry and planet. We’re focused on making measurable changes to our business practices, and are positioned as one of the industries most dedicated sustainability advocates.
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