7 Tips For Eco-Friendly Exhibiting

We all know how important it is to look after the environment. Even the smallest steps in our everyday lives can make a huge contribution in the overall objective to become more eco-friendly. 

Even when it comes to exhibiting, there’s no need to be wasteful. Here at RDW, we are committed to improving our carbon footprint and, as part of this, we can provide a range of sustainable solutions for your exhibition stands because we truly believe that sustainability should be at the heart of exhibitions. 

So if you’re looking to put measures in place that will help make your next stand more eco-friendly, have a look at our seven top tips to help you take those all-important steps.

1. Choose to use modular exhibition stands

By definition, modular systems are built for reconstruction. They can be reconfigured and reused at every exhibition you attend, serving a range of purposes and acting as a cost-effective option. Overall, they provide a much simpler solution as an exhibition stand; not only are they easy to transport, they can also be configured in a variety of ways, meaning the possibilities are endless when it comes to your stand’s overall look and design. 

Find out more about our modular stands.

2. Hire your exhibition stand

Looking for another cost effective option? Hiring exhibition equipment is a great solution. Whilst this obviously helps reduce the environmental impact because the requirement to manufacture individual stands every time is reduced, it also means you don’t need to worry about finding a larger sum of money than you would with purchasing a stand. Additionally, you also don’t need to worry about where to store it as, once you’re finished with your stand, we will dismantle it for you and return the equipment to our warehouse.

3. Reuse your exhibition graphics

At RDW, we always promote the reuse of graphics. Again, this acts as another cost-effective option for you but, put simply, it also just makes sense. If you can have a selection of graphics that can be used multiple times, at an array of events, why wouldn’t you go for that option? Not only is it going to be much lighter on your company’s bank balance, it’s also going to reduce the need to use up materials creating new graphics every time. So if you can, try to avoid creating dated images or event-specific graphics – that way, you will be able to get the most out of your investment. Not only that, we will happily store them on your behalf, saving room on storage. Reusing graphics really couldn’t be simpler.

4. Opt for LED lighting

LED lighting is known to use much less power than traditional lights. Ensuring your exhibition stand incorporates this much more sustainable form of energy will mean that, not only are you reducing your carbon footprint by consuming much less power, but you are also reducing your stand’s electric cost too.

5. Choose sustainable giveaways

Everyone loves a freebie. And nothing helps bring people to your stand more than knowing they could come away with something to take home afterwards. Overall, it’s definitely a marketing method that we would recommend, not only to keep people happy, but also to keep your brand fixed in their mind. That being said, a lot of freebies can be wasteful. Many of the more traditional items are now deemed to be outdated so we’d strongly recommend rethinking the type of promotional items you want to offer on your stand. For instance, try swapping these ‘throw-away’ freebies for something more sustainable and useful, such as a canvas bag, travel mugs, metal sports bottles, bamboo pens etc.

6. Go paperless

Who wants to be dealing with a huge wad of paper anyway? With the increase of technology in our lives, it makes complete sense to scrap the paper altogether and digitise your exhibition literature and visitor data. For example, why not try swapping your traditional leaflets for digital content using data capture and QR codes?

7. Say no to single-use plastics for stand hospitality

If your exhibition stand offers food and catering options, think about what equipment will be needed and replace single-use plastics with more eco-friendly products, such as wooden stirrers and paper cups, for example.

We are experts at exhibition stand design and have loads of ideas to make your brand stand out from the crowd. Take a look at some of the stands we’ve designed over the years by visiting our portfolio. 

And, if you’d like to have a proper chat about other ways to make your exhibition stand more environmentally friendly, please feel free to get in touch.