Starr Studios Sustainable Signmaking

The majority of our work is hand painted signs on wood using sustainable panels and low VOC paints. We work hard to minimize waste at each stage of our process and recycle where possible thus creating a fraction of the waste that other sign shops produce.

We are working towards the goal of using only sustainable practices in our sign making while maintaining the highest standards of quality craftsmanship. When possible, we use low VOC paints that exceed the rigorous upcoming CALGreen regulations and offer a variety of sustainable sign substrates including no-formaldehyde wood composite panels as well as bamboo panels, traditional ply-woods and a variety of reclaimed wooden planks and windows.

In addition to offering sustainable sign options, here are some of the things we are doing to be more environmentally responsible with our business:

• Our work shop runs on solar power supplied by multiple panels located on our roof
• We are a USGBC Chapter Member (Inland Empire)
• We live and work on the same property = zero commuting
• All cardboard from supplies we have shipped is reused as packaging material for the signs we ship to our customers
• We mix our paints in containers salvaged from our kitchen
• All waste metal is recycled
• We buy our supplies in bulk when possible
• We recycle all qualifying materials used in our shop
• All future marketing materials will either be printed on recycled paper with soy inks or converted to digital media
• We purchase the majority of our materials from nearby Orange and Los Angeles Counties, and make all other materials orders within a 500 mile radius

We realize that in the grand scheme of things, the contributions of one micro-sized sign shop adds up to very little, but we hope to inspire other shops to make the move away from petroleum based vinyls and plastics and to push their creative limits to make better looking signs while using sustainable processes.