For many businesses, sustainability is a core part of their ethos and as such it has an impact on various aspects of the operation. This includes event planning.
However, you don’t have to be a dedicated events company to benefit from sustainable events management and planning. Company events are a common way for businesses to celebrate achievements, attract new clients, raise awareness, and more.
However, events can be a major source of waste without proper management. As an example, UK festivals pre-pandemic were reported to be responsible for 23,500 tonnes of waste annually.
This guide establishes why sustainable event waste management is so important for businesses, along with expert tips on creating a plan for events of all kinds and sizes.
The importance of sustainable event management
A sustainable approach to event planning and management can bring a variety of benefits for businesses. Firstly, many brands look to sustainable events as a way to attract new customers and clients from the ever-growing demographic of environmentally conscious individuals.
With a massive 78% of consumers feeling that sustainability is important, this represents a large portion of the customer base for many businesses. Another contributing factor is the UK net zero strategy for 2050, which provides incentives for businesses to embrace sustainable practices.
Sustainable measures for events usually have the side effect of reducing the overall amount of waste produced. This helps cut costs by reducing the need for waste collection and waste disposal services.
You may also use an event as a way to trial sustainable measures before incorporating them into your business model. For instance, you could compare the volume of waste produced at past regular events vs sustainable ones. Many measures for event waste management can be applied to other indoor settings, such as office waste or education waste.
Finally, embracing sustainable practices can also have lasting benefits by improving brand reputation. If you market your event successfully, it ensures more people than just those who attended see your commitment to sustainability.
How to create a sustainable event waste management plan
At its core, sustainable event management involves various choices that reduce the overall environmental impact of your event. This could include its carbon footprint and disruption to local wildlife, but for our purposes we will be focusing on achieving sustainability through controlling event waste.
Even just taking into account events waste, there are many aspects to consider which can be difficult for business owners and managers who have a lot going on. This is why it’s often beneficial to get support from professionals in event waste management who possess experience in sustainable measures. When creating a sustainable event waste management plan, we recommend focusing on the following areas.
Create a waste sustainability plan
The first thing you should do is create an in-depth sustainability plan well in advance of the event. This will help ensure all aspects of the event have been organised in keeping with your sustainability goals. Having a comprehensive plan in place is crucial to upholding different sustainable initiatives and aligning the various parties that might be involved in the event.
The goals within your event waste sustainability plan should reflect the values of your business, as well as the nature of the event. If you’re promoting a new product, service, or campaign, the focus should be on the environmental benefits it will bring. If you acquire sponsorship from a well-known champion of sustainability, then their values are also worth bearing in mind.
Recycling options
When creating your event space, there should be multiple locations where people can easily access recycling bins of all kinds. This includes separate disposal for food waste, recycling, and general. You could also go a step further and arrange boxes for glass waste throughout the venue, which can then be deposited for collection after the event.
Reusable materials
One of the biggest contributors of waste from events is due to the presence of single-use items. To support recycling stations and recycling waste disposal strategies, sustainable event organisers should seek to make use of recycled and upcycled materials where possible. Although some councils are celebrating success, like Westminster City Council with a 61% recycling rate for events in 2024, there is still a large amount of event waste that goes to landfill. You can also ask attendees to return materials used throughout the event once it’s finished, such as lanyards or badge covers.
This extends to the items and products used to create the event. For instance, any stage materials should be repurposed and any equipment hired should be manufactured using environmentally-friendly processes.
Digital promotion and communication
One of the most straightforward ways to reduce packaging and paper waste is to cut down on physical materials like brochures, tickets, flyers, and posters. In most cases, there are digital alternatives to these. However, if you do create promotional materials to give out at the event it’s essential these can be recycled effectively or disposed of with the least damage to the environment.
Venue and location choice
Since the ISO 20121 certification introduced an internationally recognised standard of sustainability for venues, there are more options for businesses looking to hold sustainable events. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is another that’s often used to rate green buildings. Compliance ensures that the venue infrastructure operates in sustainable ways, such as by utilising solar power or having a modern waste water disposal system. The location of the event is also worth considering as this might dictate the transport methods available to attendees.
Choose your vendors wisely
If your event is designed to showcase partners or supply refreshments, it’s important that the parties you choose also share your sustainability goals. This means they don’t have to change the way they operate, instead fitting seamlessly into the fabric of your event. If you’re in doubt, simply share your event sustainability plan with your chosen vendors in advance of the event.
Litter picking
When trying to achieve sustainability with your event, your staff will be familiar with your sustainability policies and procedures but attendees likely won’t be. Having a few litter pickers is a proactive solution that means you aren’t relying on guests to ensure your event is sustainable. You can also hire a team of experts like Yorwaste who can take the litter-picking hassle away from you along with the other waste management chores. Which brings us to the next point.
Partner with waste management professionals
Bringing in a team of experts in sustainable events is essential to make sure you stay compliant with regulations for the disposal of business or commercial waste. Alongside ensuring the proper sorting and storage of event waste, professional waste management companies will also guarantee you they have a valid waste carriers license as required by law. By following the ‘prevent, re-use, recycle, and recover’ hierarchy for waste, as well as creating clear signalling for waste disposal stations within the event, this supports incorporating sustainable measures for events of all types and sizes.
Factors affecting event waste management
While it’s important to have ever-green sustainability goals which you can apply to various company events, you might have to adapt waste management measures according to each individual event. Factors to bear in mind include:
- Size of the event – consider whether your measures are enough to make the event sustainable given the number of people expected to attend, and the duration of the event.
- Type of event – the nature of your event will have an impact on the expected volume of waste, as well as the expected type of waste. For example, food and drink events typically produce large amounts of waste related to eating, i.e. packaging, food waste etc.
- Activities – the kinds of activities and the amount of activities planned throughout an event influences how waste is produced within an event space. For instance, bin stations will need to be placed strategically to account for crowds of people gathering in one place for activities.
- Location – It could also be that your current sustainable infrastructure is inadequate due to the location of the event or venue. If you’re unfamiliar with the environment, it’s worth investigating what events have been held previously to see if there’s any insight into the sustainable measures that have been used.
Expertise in Events Waste Management
To pull-off an sustainable event while still meeting your business obligations can be a tall order. Establishing a strategic partnership with an experienced events waste management service provider is a straightforward solution. We’ll help you organise an event that is both successful and sustainable.
Demonstrate your commitment to sustainability and environmentally friendly practices with a well-planned and executed event. With a comprehensive events waste management system in place, the proof will be there for all your guests to see.
Looking for professional waste management support at your next sustainable event? The Yorwaste team can help with planning for both seasoned events companies and businesses putting on one-off events. Get in touch for a discovery call.