PhotoArts goes for wood.

PhotoArts is a member of the Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter. This is a group of Rotorua businesses that have decided to adopt a philosophy of continual  improvement around social and environmental sustainability. For more information on the Charter go to www.sustainableNZ.com

PhotoArts has been a Charter member since 2006 but has considered sustainable practices long before joining the Charter. “We've always considered some of the basic sustainability issues such as a healthy working environment and reducing waste to landfill” says PhotoArts director Rod Meharry.

However, the company has moved to a higher level of sustainability. “We know there's more to sustainability than just recycling. Everything we do has an environmental and social cost and benefit. This includes the products we promote through the business”, says Rod.

With this in mind the company has decided to branch out beyond its core services of printing and distribution of display units.“We decided to raise the sustainability bar and see if we can design display units with sustainability being one of their key attributes”, says Rod.

PhotoArts also decided that these display units would have to be attractive to the point where they become part of the artwork instead of just holding it up. According to Rod it was important when considering the sustainability issue to look at the display unit's entire lifecycle. This meant considering raw materials from which it would be manufactured right through to what should happen to the display unit at the end of its useful life. The design chosen by PhotoArts is a plywood display system that requires no fixing mechanism (e.g. screws) and which uses cardboard for the printed artwork. “We chose the brand name ‘woode™' which indicates the key material from which the display system is made and has a certain cheekiness about it”, says Rod.

The woode range of products includes indoor and outdoor display units as well as units with shelves and even modular recycling collectors. Photo Arts intends developing a website dedicated to the woode products.

“We knew that while the woode™ range has many positive sustainability attributes there will always be more we can do to improve its overall sustainability performance, so we engaged Eldad Collins, the Charter Sustainability Assessor, to prepare a Product Sustainability Assessment Report that will determine where on the sustainability scale the woode stands and what improvements can be made.  It was important to us that the report be honest and transparent about its own limitations and about what we can and can't achieve.

(Download the report below.)