Sustainable Signage -Lollipop Signs — MUSE Members United for Sustainable Events

Don Soubolsky is the President of Lollipop Signs by Moving Products. Their mission is to help events become more sustainable by eliminating single use signs and reducing plastic waste. Their LED Lollipops signs are the thinnest, the lightest, and the brightest in the world.

Lollipop event signs were first used at the Olympics for branding and crowd control. Today LED Lollipops Signs are used by Sponsors for all major events including FIFA, Olympics, PGA, MLS, Super Bowl and many other corporate events.

Hi Don, so nice to chat with you today! What was the origins of Lollipop Signs?

My company actually started at the time of the Calgary 1988 Olympics. We participated in the last 15 Olympics including the Sochi Olympics (2014), the Rio Olympics (2016) and PyeongChang (2018). The business of Moving Products was basically providing Olympic sponsors with clothing and some signage, and things like that. How I got into the lollipop sign business is that one of my clients is the official timekeeper of the Olympics. And she saw the need for these signs and said, “If you’re not going to get into the lollipop business, I will!”

Lollipop signs are mobile, illuminated, wayfinding signs that were first used at the Olympics. The Olympics are so large that when you drop off a busload of people at the gate, the venue could be 1,500 meters away. So every 100 meters or 200 meters, you need to have wayfinding signs, especially in the Winter Olympics, because it gets very dark. It’s also a powerful branding tool. So, in 2016 I set out to create the brightest, thinnest, and lightest mobile LED sign in the world. And essentially I did. After that, I transitioned my company from doing one, very big event every two years, which was the Olympics, to about 10 events every week. So it's actually a nice little business plan that we have.

Lollipop signs are recognized as being sustainable because they're reusable. You can refurbish and reuse them indefinitely. Even the plastic cases that we use for shipping are reusable. Our goal is to eliminate single use signage.

During the pandemic, I even went even further. I created PVC free banners. I worked with some great people around here, and I found these engineered paper banners, which are designed to be as good as PVC plastic.

Engineered papers are technically enhanced to provide improved performance.

The carbon footprint is much smaller with paper than it is with plastic. In fact, from cradle to grave, there is a 79% smaller carbon footprint using Engineered Paper instead of vinyl. It also uses 30% less water, and creates less solid waste. It’s a lot more friendly to the environment because it’s not a product that is made from fossil fuels.

What about the hardware that is used to hold the signs up? Like in the pop up banners? Can people reuse the banner stands and hardware?

The pop up banner is completely reusable, you can easily change the printed component in a few minutes. And they come in every form including the waterproof site banners that you see on construction fences with the grommets. All of the engineered paper signs are 100% blue bin recyclable. Our intention is to put a little QR code on all of our printed products that gives recycling instructions to ensure they end up in the blue bin (versus in the garbage bin) after the event.

And the same is true for the lollipop signs, you can always reuse the hardware from event to event.

What is the main component of “sustainable” signage? What is the most important aspect of sustainable signage?

Sustainable signage is simple, it's using paper versus PVC petroleum based products. We're talking to IMAX and PCMA and MPI is becoming their sustainable signage provider to get some exposure at the events the meeting planners provide to this education.

We do use fossil fuels when we ship by FedEx, like everyone else. So, for every $10 that we spend on FedEx, we plant a tree in Tanzania at what we call the Lollipop Forest. And right now the annual carbon capture from our forest is 25.5 tonnes of carbon. Tanzania used to be almost 90% forest. Now it's about 75% arid desert because large, multinational companies came in and chopped down the trees. So, it’s really helping with forestation. It also helps the local community. The majority of the trees are fruit trees, and this provides an opportunity to sell the fruit. It's a good program, and I’m really proud about it. My daughter is very proud of it also.

What places do you ship your signs to?

Although we’re based in Canada, our clientele is 90% American, and then about 10% the rest of the world.

What else do people need to know about sustainable signage?

It’s very simple: focus on PVC free signs. Focus on signage that’s not made from fossil fuels, it also needs to be 100% recyclable. I wish there was more to say, but it’s really simple, our signs are made out of Engineered Paper instead of fossil fuels. Instead of making things out of plastic, make them out of paper whenever you can.

And so the message here is that whenever you can use a paper based product, versus a plastic, petroleum based product, it’s much kinder to the environment.

Why is it called “Engineered” Paper? Is it made out of cotton and not trees? Is that what that means?

It’s fiber based, it’s not necessarily cotton. It can be any fiber, so it's made out of cotton, and trees, and other fiber materials, and also some post-consumer waste. Some of the products have upwards of 10% post-consumer waste.

Our product is either completely reusable, or 100% easily recyclable. In the U.S. 66% of paper is recovered and recycled vs. only 8% of plastic.

Planning sustainable events doesn’t need to be so hard if you have the right vendors. We’re excited to share this information with our community. Any last words of advice for sustainable events?

Here is the link to my 7 Easy Steps to a Sustainable Event that you can download. The list includes many helpful suggestions including reducing your event’s carbon footprint, making recycling easy, partnering with food rescue to donate extra food, and of course, eliminating single use signs.

Thank you, Don!

Engineered Paper is better than plastic.

Engineered paper banners perform equally to plastic, but are more environmentally friendly.
Meets Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) criteria for socially conscious investors who evaluate how a company performs as a steward of nature.
Recycled Engineered Paper keeps waste out of landfills. In the U.S. 66% of paper is recovered and recycled vs. only 8% of plastic.
Lollipop Signs Engineered Paper products are suitable for outdoor use and are 100% blue-bin recyclable.

Paper vs. Plastic