The following article provides 5 ways to make your event a sustainable one.
Making your event as environmentally friendly as possible is not only good for the planet. It can impress your sponsors, attendees, and the public, AND it doesn’t have to break the bank. In fact, if you follow these five simple steps to make your event sustainable, it will likely save you money in the long run.
Here are five ways to make your event more sustainable that won’t cost too much money or strain your planning capabilities—and all of them will leave behind a significantly smaller carbon footprint to reduce our negative impacts on the planet.
1. Water
Being conscious of how much water you use and how much water your guests are using is important if you want to have a truly sustainable event. The average American uses more than 100 gallons of water each day, so it’s likely that some of your guests might be even higher than that. Don’t let them leave thirsty! At your next event, provide reusable bottles for those who did not bring theirs or glass cups if you are at a conference center.
For the best water dispensing solution, you need our O'land Station. Check out the benefits of our water refilling stations.
You can improve your water use across your drinking water offerings and as well as providing safe, toxic-free handwashing stations. We all know how important this is in our post-pandemic world.
2. Packaging
More and more Canadians are moving towards a zero-waste lifestyle, and with good reason. The first step is to avoid disposable items wherever possible, and request Bulk purchases.
Take a look at all of your event’s packaging material and see if there’s anything you can change. Ask yourself, Is the packaging plastic really necessary? Be careful: as an organizer, you may not be able to control everything that comes in your packages, but you can check with vendors about where their products come from and what kind of packaging they’re using.
3. Plastics
It’s sad but true: An estimated 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute worldwide. And while plastic has been an affordable, durable and convenient material for so many industries — from food and beverage packaging to pharmaceuticals, medical devices and electronics — the widespread adoption of plastics has led to devastating environmental consequences. According to a 2015 study by Ocean Conservancy, there will be more plastic than fish (by weight) in our oceans by 2050.
Plastic disposables can be easy and cheap, but we know the cost.
There are plenty of eco-friendly alternatives on store shelves and your local hardware store that can make any event more sustainable. If you really want to make your event sustainable, consider reusable options: reusable cloth napkins instead of paper ones; metal cutlery instead of plastic forks: reusable beverage containers instead of bottled water. Even if they seem like a pain in the neck, these efforts will pay off in less waste—and a lighter carbon footprint.
4. Green Partnerships
One of the easiest ways to make your event more sustainable is to work with a business in your community that shares your eco-friendly ethos. Think restaurants that purchase local, organic foods or Green Transport vehicles and Eco-design rental companies. Partnerships can not only reduce waste, but they also give you an opportunity to feature other local businesses at your event.
We would like to introduce some of them to you:
Cupko (reusable cup share system, available across Canada)
Association Zero Dechet Quebec (here you can find a network of zero waste partners to chose and work with).
Bixi Bike Rentals (Rent a local E-bike in Montreal)
ByeBye Plastic Foundation (Create a plastic-free music event experience).
BYOBOTTLE (Register your event to become a #byobottle partner) and check our featured outdoor drinking foundation as a water vendor in their COVID Re-opening guidelines here: https://oceanic.global/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/TOS-Event-Guidelines.pdf
5. Recycling
Recycling is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint, but its the very least you can do. Visit your local recycling center and ask if they have a list of what can and cannot be recycled in your area. This list will inform where you send all those cans, bottles, plastics and paper goods that find their way into your recycling bin.
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT SEE IN THE WORLD.
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