SUSTAINABILITY IN THE EVENTS INDUSTRY: OUR TIPS + TRICKS

It’s great to see that the demand for eco-friendly practices within businesses continues to rise, with most industry professionals embracing sustainability with open arms. From reducing waste to minimising your carbon footprint, there's a plethora of ways to make your next event not only memorable but also environmentally conscious. In this blog, we dive into some of our invaluable tips and tricks that will help you navigate the path toward hosting sustainable events.  

So, let's all get ready to revolutionise our approach and start creating a greener future for the event industry! 

Sustainable Choices for Food and Beverage

We know that food wastage is a massive hot topic, with event catering always airing on the side of caution, you’ll usually be able to find a lot of leftovers at the end of an event. However, there are many ways to make more sustainable choices when it comes to food and drink for your event. 

1. Consider sourcing local and seasonal food as much as possible. This not only reduces the carbon footprint of your event (as it cuts down on transport required) but also supports the local economy. 
2. When it comes to drinks, offer guests alternatives to single-use plastic water bottles by investing in reusable water stations or providing glass water bottles and avoid any types of single-use plastic. 
3. Consider looking into food banks or other community projects where you could donate any leftover food to avoid wastage. 

Reducing Your Carbon Footprint

We can all agree that the events industry still has a lot of work to do when it comes to our carbon footprint, but the great news is that even a small step in the right direction will make such a huge impact and here are a few ways you can do it: 

1. Use recycled materials whenever possible. This includes everything from invitations and decor to food and drink service items.
2. Make use of alternative transportation options. If your event is local to your offices, think about encouraging guests to carpool, take public transportation, or walk/bike to your event if possible.
3. Offset your carbon emissions. There are several companies such as tree nation and my carbon plan, that offer carbon offsetting services, which is a great way to neutralise your event's impact on the environment.
4. Educate your guests about sustainability. Include information in your event materials about simple ways they can reduce their own carbon footprints.
5. Give back to the earth. Add a CSR activity into your next team away day or incentive, this could be planting trees, a beach or sea clean up or working on a local community project.

How to Measure Your Impact

When it comes to sustainability, one of the most important things you can do is measure your impact. This way, you can see where your event is having the most positive (or negative) effect and make changes accordingly. Platforms such as TRACE have been designed to do just this by capturing emission and waste data from live, hybrid, and digital events. 

Your impact as a business also spans further than your carbon footprint, remember to think about your content and key internal messaging. How can you encourage your employees to lead a greener life or bring key learnings from events back into their working life? If your event is abroad, how can you include the local community, how can you leave a lasting impact that goes further than just planting trees?  

A Greener Future – Best Practice

Sustainability in the events industry is essential for a greener future, by utilising even just one of these tips and tricks below, you’ll be able to reduce your environmental impact with no detriment to your event's success. 

1. Look at your waste output of each event. Can you recycle or compost some of it? Are there ways to reduce the amount of waste you generate?
2. Consider your transportation options. How do people get to and from your event? 
3. Think about the food you serve. Where does it come from? Is it locally sourced? Is it organic or fair trade? Does it come in reusable or recyclable packaging?
4. Take a close look at the materials you use for your event. Are they eco-friendly and sustainable? Can they be reused or recycled after the event is over?
5. Think about where you are holding your event and the suppliers you are using. Can these be local, what impact is your event having on the local community? Can a CSR activity be added to your event?
6. Go digital where possible. It’s not only more streamline to use an event app or website, but it will reduce your paper waste from marketing material significantly.

If you want to chat about how we can create your next event with sustainability at the forefront, drop us a message at hello@besureevents.co.uk today.  

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