Sustainability
Green by name
Green by nature
How we measure up
‘Betternotstop – More Than Music’ surveyed 100 UK music festivals and delved into their sustainability policies to see exactly what actions they were committed to. The below shows the results of their survey.
Less than half have a publicly available sustainability policy
Less than two thirds are delivering any form of social impact programm
Only 45 % have carbon offsetting measures in place
Green Events Co. is proud to already be delivering on all of the above suggested policies.
Social Impact Programmes
We work with our vendors to rescue surplus food from our events and redistribute it to local communities. Through partnerships with Open Kitchen, Lake District Food Banks, and Oxford Food Hub, we support people experiencing food insecurity across Greater Manchester, Oxford, and Cumbria — while also reducing significant amounts of food waste from festival sites.
Operating at multiple events throughout the summer, the scheme saves tonnes of food from going to landfill each year. Since 2023, we have rescued over 3,000 kilos of surplus food, helping to feed people, not bins.
In 2023, Green Events partnered with Eat Well MCR to introduce ‘Meals for Manchester’ at a number of events. Our food concessions have raised £10,031 to support their work. Eat Well MCR provides meals prepared by professional chefs to people sidelined by poverty, and since April 2020, this collective of chefs and hospitality professionals has delivered over 120,000 meals to those facing challenging circumstances in Greater Manchester.
Publicly Available Sustainability Policy
GEC has a publicly available sustainability policy which is reviewed annually.
Carbon Offsetting Measures
We’re tackling climate change! We use a travel carbon calculator to calculate and record all our travel to the events that we work at to analyse the emissions for our journeys. Emissions are balanced by making donations to UK investment in renewable energy and reforestation in Kenya.
Our Vendors Lead the Way
- Organic, fairtrade ingredients & locally sourced produce
- Coffee from sustainable plantations in compostable cups & lids
- Carton & canned water instead of plastic bottles
- Coffee grounds recycled into soap
- Plastic-free operations
Our Actions
- Curating Veggie & Vegan concessions with every vendor offering at least one main plant-based meal
- Supporting vendors to share sustainable ideas through WhatsApp groups
- Switched to electric generators for our four-day family camp festival, reducing diesel use
- Eliminated plastic bottles, recycling all waste cooking oil, and introducing compost bins where possible
Looking ahead
We’re more focused than ever on making our events greener and more sustainable. We will continue to expand vegan and vegetarian options across all events, while supporting local food vendors and sourcing responsibly to strengthen our local communities. Power use will be reduced through LED lighting, solar energy, and other renewables, and affordable meals and children’s portions will help cut food waste. Our commitment to responsible, sustainable, and locally sourced ingredients continues to guide every decision we make — creating events that are better for people and the planet.
Partners for change
Ecolibrium is a live events industry response to the climate crisis – a community of events, festivals, suppliers, artists and music companies taking action to reduce travel impacts and invest in climate solutions. www.ecolibrium.earth
Better Not Stop was launched as a business with the express purpose of making the world a better place – to bring people together so we can create a better future for people and the planet.
Better Not Stop carry out the ‘More Than Music’ report which looks at publicly available data, as well as insights from industry experts, for 100 UK Music Festivals. It explores sustainability and impact in the UK music festival industry as it currently stands.
www.betternotstop.com
We work with Eat Well MCR who provide freshly prepared meals to people in need across Greater Manchester.
At a select number of our local events for the past two years, we have worked with Eat Well to action ‘Meals for Manchester,’ where customers were given the option to donate £1 when purchasing a main meal.
In 2024 Eat Well MCR raised over £1800 which helped delivery 900 meals to families living in temporary accommodation, women taking refuge in sheltered accommodation and families experiencing food poverty and inequality.
Open Kitchen is Manchester’s leading sustainable catering company. Profits from our business go into providing food and supplying meals for people struggling with food insecurity across Greater Manchester.
www.openkitchenmcr.co.uk
Kendal Calling is committed to limiting our overall impact on the environment and are taking actions to reduce it. We have created a trader pledge which demonstrates your commitment to supporting us with this.
www.kendalcalling.co.uk/sustainability
Carbon Footprint Ltd share a common responsible goal to track and reduce carbon emissions ‘at source’ as much as possible and to compensate for unavoidable emissions – via carbon offsetting – to render companies’ activities to be net zero carbon/carbon neutral. With this action, companies protect both environment and their own businesses.
www.carbonfootprint.com
Reduce
Encourage traders to offer incentives to customers who bring their own food containers.
Re-use
Encourage all staff to make use of the reusable water bottle provided to them by Green Events Co.
Recycle
Ensure traders purchase consumables that are recyclable and then recycle them accordingly
Prohibited items.
- Plastic cups and plastic lids
- Plastic straws
- Plastic cutlery or stirrers – oil or plant based
- Single serve sachets of salt, pepper, sugar or sauce
- Expanded polystyrene or plastics of any type including PC, PP, PET, rPET, HPDE or LDPE Glass bottles
- Black bin bags
- Single use plastic bags (with the exception of clear bin bags for waste only)
- ‘Bad’ Glitter
What to use instead.
- Compostable paper and cardboard cups, reusable cups and mugs. All concessions must adhere to the compostable serve-ware and packaging guidelines (simply ‘biodegradable’ is not acceptable)
- Wooden Cutlery and stirrers
- Compostable paper, card and bagasse plates, bowls and boxes
- Paper straws
- Multi-serve condiments
- Clear bin bags
- Biodegradable glitter