Over the past 12 months, Signarama Tuggerah has achieved significant sustainability milestones, catapulted by their groundbreaking sustainable signage project for the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) at the 2024 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in Paris.
Under the leadership of Director Melissa Marshall, Signarama Tuggerah — the Central Coast’s biggest signage and print manufacturing plant — has become a foundation for innovation and sustainability in the print industry.
The 12-month AOC project, injecting hundreds of thousands of dollars into the local economy, involved inventing, designing and manufacturing world-first eco-friendly signage solutions for high-profile locations in France, including five hotels, two shipping containers, and seven sporting venues.
The organisers of Paris 2024 aim to halve the Games’ carbon footprint of previous years, implementing innovative solutions across energy, food, venues, transport and signage. Integral to this effort is the circular economy strategy to reduce resources, make better use of resources, and ensure resources have a second life.
Assisting wayfinding and communication, Olympic signage helps showcase Australia’s identity and cultural heritage, while ensuring athletes, officials and supporters feel a sense of unity.
The scope of work was complex and broad, substituting plastic with cardboard to create hundreds of bespoke applications including structures, furniture, artwork, packaging, and signage. Inventing indoor and outdoor signage using organic materials was challenging and required a rapid innovation process to conceptualise, design, prototype, and test new methods.
This effort required innovative thinking and collaboration with global leaders like Spandex, Avery Dennison and HP. As a result, Signarama Tuggerah pioneered recyclable, reusable, and repurposable signage materials and packaging produced with 22% less carbon, based on certified carbon quotas.
Signarama Tuggerah’s innovations — new reinforcement methods, eco-friendly coatings, and precise digital cutting for flat-packed shipping — met AOC’s standards and proved high-quality sustainable signage is achievable.
In addition to their impactful work with the AOC for the 2024 Olympic Games, Signarama Tuggerah has transitioned to using HP Latex printers, which employ water-based inks that are odourless and free of hazardous air pollutants. Embracing sustainable materials, such as Spandex’s Evergreen signage and digital films, further reduces their carbon footprint, measured by cradle-to-gate life cycle assessments.
Signarama Tuggerah has become a significant voice in the Australian print industry, educating business leaders on the benefits of sustainable signage. The team’s efforts have influenced industry-wide adoption of better practices and prevented thousands of tonnes of waste from going to landfill — a significant achievement for this Central Coast small business.