Sustainable promotional products for universities: the welcome bag is already in the basement

At the start of the semester thousands of first-year students are handed a welcome bag, usually a newly produced jute bag, along with a pen, a lanyard and flyers. At 3,000 first-year students a year, that comes to tens of thousands of bags over a decade. Some are used; a large share ends up in a cupboard after a few weeks.

A few doors away the picture is different: storerooms and plant rooms are piled high with banners from university open days, roll-ups with an outdated logo, exhibition walls from the last careers fair, flags and fabric panels from graduation ceremonies. Weather-resistant, long-lasting material that nobody needs any more after a rebrand or the end of a campaign.

The contradiction that hardly anyone notices

One department orders new promotional items; another works out how to clear its storeroom. The two processes run separately, in different budgets and areas of responsibility. It is rarely noticed that the material in the basement is precisely the raw material for the next welcome bag, because nobody is responsible for both.

From banners, tarpaulins, flags and roll-ups that have been taken out of service we make products that are needed in day-to-day university life: tote bags and drawstring bags for the start of the semester, pencil cases, Cardholders, laptop sleeves, toiletry bags and keyrings for first-year welcome packs. Our product ideas from old advertising banners show the range a single stock can hold.

Why this fits universities particularly well

The identity is already in the material. Colours, logo and the designs of past campaigns are in the banner, which makes every product a one-off. No two bags look alike, because every cut shows a different section.

Then the practical part: you avoid the disposal costs and the purchase of new raw material, and green offices and sustainability officers have a result they can hold in their hands rather than another statement of intent. For sustainability reports you can put a figure on the quantity of material, which makes the circular economy inside your own organisation traceable.

The idea can be taken further. Products from old university material also work as merchandise in the campus shop, as a gift for guest lectures and partner organisations, or as a give-away at graduation ceremonies.

How a project runs

You send photos and details of type, quantity and condition. We check what can be made from it and suggest products. Once that is agreed, we take care of sorting, cutting, production and finishing. Production runs in the EU on an industrial scale, so a complete year group is realistic as well.

If what you hold is not enough for the quantity you want, we top it up with material from our own stock. That also works if you want to start with no material of your own at all.