Trend for sustainability and environmental friendliness
Events are the most effective key of brand communication with the audience. However, from the point of view of environment and sustainable development, any event is a space, often a huge one, built up only for a few days, and in the end we have mountains of unusable garbage. Transience of events and the huge amount of garbage left after any event, the issues of benefits and damage to the environment and the efficiency of resource use are increasingly of concern to global corporations, customers and event organizers all around the world. To prepare for modern challenges, to solve the main problems and to start using the solutions in our event are the purpose, which today afflicting the people, who belong under any events organizing. A way to sustainable changes is long and difficult, but today we can take our attention on the main elements of the event and get to first base in the environmental direction.
What can we do right now??
Plastic recycling and separate waste collection
Separating of plastic, paper, metal and at least organic waste can be the idea of a single event, the main theme of team building. For our clients, we offer the Upcycle program, a creative team building that lets you unlock the potential of familiar materials and realize the problem of waste. Even if the concept of the event is another one, you can include garbage sorting as a separate activity. At major corporate events or business conferences you can place separate tanks with designations, voice and place sorting rules on the site. Last weekend, as part of Nestle Family day we successfully realized separate waste collection activities for several thousand people.Waste mitigation
Waste occurs at almost every stage of the event. And even though we can’t avoid it completely yet, what useful practices can be implemented already at the next event?- Catering
We can use reusable tableware, for example, glass bottles to replenish them with water; the rejection of plastic dishes and disposable tubes. Reduction of food waste – accurate planning of the required amount of food for the guests of the event will help to avoid a large amount of leftover food. But if your planning fails, you can donate food to people in need or organizations immediately after the event.
- Development and decoration technique
We can use structures that will not lead to garbage formation or can be recycled. In May, we held a conference in St. Petersburg for the client VEON (Amsterdam), where the main client’s requirement for all structures built for the event was their recycling or reuse in the future so as not to cause more damage to the environment by the event. We constructed exhibition stands made of cork and wood, and then agreed to transfer it for reuse to a children’s educational institution.
If you have to use vinyl banners, after your event hand them over to local creative associations, where bags and other practical items will be sewn from them. A lot of people give banners to their relatives, if they have summer cottages, for outbuildings, shelters from the rain, etc. It is also a good practice and better than throwing it away!
The usage of live plants in tubs and pots is a practical, organic, beautiful and photogenic solution. Protect the zones with rental plants, green the walls and press walls – this type of decoration technique provides a complete free choice of creative solutions and an environmentally friendly attitude, both externally and in fact.
Give up balloons. We mention this small factor because balloons are awfully common as a decorative element throughout Russia and abroad. Released into the sky, they pollute our nature within a radius of several kilometers, chucked after the event, they are sent to the waste-basket mixed with other garbage and cannot be recycled. Let’s use them less!
- Souvenirs and printing
We can choose sustainable industries. A lot of souvenirs, promotional clothing is produced with the usage of a large number of chemicals, as well as numerous violations in the field of labor organization. Pay attention to the manufacturers’ certificates when choosing products – the increase in demand for eco-friendly production will help change the accepted practices in factories. Printing industry is the main component that we will soon be able to completely abandon during the events organization! The purpose is to reduce paper production in a worldwide scale and the consumption of chemicals in the printing industry. You can start with simple things from the usage of recycled handouts (notebooks and pens made of recycled cardboard) to the rejection of every paper items at the event, in favor of digital applications. Schedules, maps, presentations and other materials for guests in the digital application on the gadget replace printing products, and besides, digital can always be at a hand, weigh of the digital application is zero, and it can show the new level of organization of the event. What is about gifts to guests? Give them useful reusable items or recycled materials, or even better – impressions, charitable donations or gift certificates!
Care for our environment
Nowadays a number of public, charitable organizations and creative initiatives of an ecological and environmental friendly orientation is incising. We offer our clients to support this type of projects as Give a Tree or by buying gifts from WWF – these are both wonderful ideas for events and benefits!Contribution to the development of environmental and sustainable consciousness
Sustainable development is not another concept of green-activists, animal advocates or vegans; it is not only about ecology, as it may seem at first glance. According to ISO 20121, sustainable event management is the process of integrating environmental and social responsibility issues into event planning. Sustainable management requires that you take into account the needs and values of every stakeholder, which can be affected by your event.The events are an excellent platform for promoting the concept of sustainable development and positive changes among the participants of the event.
Brands that have their own sustainability mission have to befit their messages importantly. The events provide an opportunity to be founded, to show in practice how the company can implement the principles. It is good to show practical solutions to your own production problems and solutions to problems directly related to the event both. Organize waste disposal, use renewable resources, and combine the event with topical issues of sustainable development, adding social brand capital and information about sustainable development. Use game formats, by positively interacting with the participants of the event, involve the audience in the process, create a new joint experience, and take another step towards sustainable development together with your audience.
For us, event organizers, this is an occasion to consciously and more carefully approach the planning and organization of events at each stage. In addition to steps to reduce the negative impact on the environment, it forces us to look for new opportunities for events (they can be more efficient and useful), to engage with modern technologies, new partners and suppliers, to attract another communities, including sponsorship, charity and volunteer projects, that reduces the budget of the event.
Environmental initiatives become progressively bigger. It means we can find easier lists of resources, methods and tools for organizing sustainable events.
Copenhagen Business School has developed its own short guide on organizing sustainable events, and you can download it
here. We think it is excellent material based on the experience of the conference on sustainable consumption in 2018, so we recommend it for an initial immersion in the problem.
Forming a community together to make the world a better, cleaner place and creating really useful and eco-friendly events, in our opinion, is an excellent initiative.
If your company has a mission of the guidelines for sustainable development, show it to your partner in organizing events and underline important indicators for you. Then the agency can let you offer responsible and sustainable methods of event management, develop activities for creative support or offer a solution for the impact on sustainability of the event. As we know, an event is the only form of live communication between brands and people. Let’s #connectpeople to create a sustainable society together.
