In light of the plastic crisis, Print Services have been working closely with the Sustainability team to source a replacement for the acetate currently used to cover thousands of lab books, handbooks, question booklets and more every year. Not only is acetate difficult to recycle, it also makes it harder to recycle whatever paper it is bound with, resulting in thousands of sheets of paper ending up in landfill. In this case, the thousands of PVC acetate sheets that have been avoided would, stacked lengthways, reach the top of Wills Memorial Building over 36 times.

The replacement, Splendorlux, is a 300gsm highly polished splash-proof material that can be supplied plain or printed to provide a durable, professional and sustainable finish to any document. Importantly, it is also: FSC certified; acid, chlorine, and heavy metal free; and 100% recyclable, meaning documents protected by it can be easily recycled in normal paper recycling bins.

The next step is to source a sustainable alternative that can be used in the rare situations where transparency is required, but Print Services estimate that at least 50% of last year's orders of acetate could already be easily (and cost-effectively) replaced by Splendorlux.