Making your event more green and caring about the environment is something on everyone’s minds at the moment – and for great reason, David Attenborough won all our hearts over in Blue Planet. But it can feel like a bit of a daunting challenge to always be sustainable, especially if you are organising a big event with hundreds of people. With decoration materials and food waste feeling like the least of your worries, we’ve got some easy tips for you to keep in mind.
Recycling
It sounds obvious, but so many people will just leave food, napkins and posters lying around the place, not really thinking about what to do with them. How about you put some of the responsibility on your guests and provide designated recycling bins around the room, encourage them to dispose of their mess in the correct way. This will also have the added benefit of helping with your clean up job at the end.
Transport
We’ve heard it all before, but if you have hundreds of people driving or taking cabs to your event, you are going to be contributing a lot of gas emissions. To help with this, consider putting on one designated mode of transport for everyone to get to your event, such as a coach. Think of it as the event warm up party! You could even look to connect guests who you know live or work closely so that they can travel together. Relationship building and saving the environment all in one – definitely deserves a pat on the back if you can pull that one off.
Catering
When it comes to food and drink, there are many ways to act in an environmentally friendly way. Try and work with producers or caterers to provide locally grown sourced foods and ingredients. Guests always love reading a menu which sounds like it was produced close to home.
You should try and use biodegradable and recyclable packaging too, as this will make a big different in the volume of waste. You can even look to design some branded reusable cups and give these away to guests to use both on the night and in the future. Everyone loves a useful party present and this way, your event and brand will be in their mind every morning when they make a coffee!
Technology
Take advantage of the technology we have available today and rid of any unnecessary paper. Consider sending out email invitations over prints and display your table plan on a screen rather than a poster. You can even encourage guests to play on their smart phones (unheard of we know) and display QR codes at the event which provide access to schedules and information rather than printing it all out.
After the event
It is inevitable that you will have over ordered for your event on things like food and decorations – of course it’s always better to have too much than too little. The trick with this is to not let anything go to waste and utilise all that you can. Consider donating any left over food to a local food bank, ask guests if they would like to take anything home with them or see what you can keep back and store for another event you may be planning. Whilst the easiest option is sometimes to just throw everything away (and if you do, make sure to recycle), by giving it a little more thought, you might find a second home for some of it!
Everyone Events is on hand to help you put on the best event possible and that includes being environmentally friendly. Get in touch to see how the team could help you.