Material Specialties - Ryedale Printing

We sit on the BPIF Environmental Steering Group and actively engage with others in the Print, Recycling and Waste Collection industries.

We can help you to navigate and complex and often misunderstood landscape to achieve optimal material selection.

We recycle 100% of our production waste.

We can produce on the following materials

Up to B2 sheet size and between 180micron and 800micron. We are also experienced at outsourcing and working in partnership with our wide range of contacts and suppliers around the world.

Polypropylene (PP & rPP)

Tear-resistant, lightweight, cost-effective, widely recycled. PP is recommended for a wide range of applications in the UK as it can be recycled multiple times before end of life. At end-of-life PP, when incinerated as waste-to-energy, has a high calorific yield and low emissions.

Polyester (PET, rPET)

Highly durable due to its relative density. Frequently used in food and drinks packaging. Clear PET is often called ‘Bottle Plastic’ and recycled as such however, once printed with conventional inks, PET does not follow the same stream and typically ends up in the ‘Jazz’ mixed waste stream.

Polyvinylchloride (PVC)

Light weight, cheap, tough & long-lasting, PVC has been used for a wide range of presentation products such self-adhesive stickers. Comparatively PVC is not widely recycled in the UK or easy to deal with at end-of-life.

Polystyrene (PS, rPS)

Printed in its rigid, high-impact polystyrene form, PS is lightweight but relatively brittle due to a pronounced grain direction. PS is not widely recycled in the UK. We’d recommend PP for use in the majority of applications.

Lenticular

We have experience in printing lenticular on a range of lenses and can finish. Customer supplied artwork is required.

Please note

We can produce on customer-supplied plastic sheets as well as our own stocks.
We do not offer ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ plastics following EC guidance based on long-term studies, as well as the potential to contaminate existing recycling streams. As such, recommend the pursuit of recyclable products instead, such as rPP in the UK.

We can offer Bioplastics (plastics from non-fossil) in limited volumes, if budget and project timescales allow.

Please click here to view our plastics policy and further information.

For more information you can also view our guide to UV litho printing onto plastics.

General Guidance

Plastics are preferred over other materials, such as boards and laminates, when the correct polymer is used – typically when a resilient product is required. All organisations should seek to use the best material for it’s intended purpose and create the minimum amount of waste throughout the products lifecycle, be it through reduced size and weight, or maximising recyclability before end-of-life. However, life cycles of materials can be complex and approaches to waste management can vary greatly depending on local and international regions.
At Ryedale we work with customers, industry, and Key Actors to maintain awareness of consumer recycling challenges and to educate customers on best practices.
We do not offer biodegradable rigid plastic products as there is evidence that, for our intended products, this would increase the potential for pollution of existing recycling streams. Instead, we push for improved material choice, product design based on material waste reduction and maximisation of recycling.
Recycling is classed a subsector of the waste management industry and is incentivised by the commercial gains from reprocessing and recycling material for sale. Recycling is highly dependent on material separation, which are then usually granulated and resold to make recycled products. Mixed waste vastly reduces the chance of recycling.

Waste is dealt with typically by local council contractors who will take it to the nearest facility, be that landfill or Material Recovery Facility (MRF), a Plastic Recovery Facility (PRF), an Associated Waste Management facility (AWM), or directly to the local incinerator.
General waste tends to go to incineration or landfill as there is so little recoverable value in it.
MRFs’ manually sort materials while AWMs employ automated sorting e.g. IR separation, (water) density separation, magnetic separation. Some MRF’s have all technologies, some have partial technologies.
MRFs, PRFs and AWMs then sell the separated waste (e.g. to mills) for use in recycled products.
All centres much prefer easy to separate and volume waste – this is reflected in the market value of the waste products. The majority of this recycled material is paper and board (fibre products), plus plastics such as PP, PET, HDPE and LDPE.

Testimonials

Screentec

Tom Dean, Managing Director

Mark and the team at Ryedale have been a fantastic find for us. It's such a relief finding a supplier we can trust, and provides consistent high quality work. The team is extremely knowledgeable & helpful with any questions we have regarding job specifications, and their customer service is second to none! They always work with us in terms of our job deadlines, and have helped us out of a tight spot many times. We can't ask for much more from a supplier.

Pike Textiles

Caroline Adams, Sales & Marketing Director

I have known of Ryedale for over twenty years and have worked both in competition and also in collaboration with them! I have always had huge respect for the Ryedale business, their knowledgeable, friendly workforce and the quality of their print. I have now worked in partnership with them on several projects – Ryedale always deliver a high quality product and service and have never let me down. Here’s to twenty more years of knowing them!

Sovereign Print

Graham Davis

Sovereign Print have worked with Ryedale for many years and have always been impressed by their detailed care on every job.

They are a company known for their excellent quality, and we wouldn’t hold back in recommending Ryedale to anyone.

We rely on them to ‘get it right’ everytime.

Contact our experienced Customer Services Team for more information

Get in touch

Material Specialities