Sustainability
Throwing Away
Old Thinking
In 2018 Green Events Co launched our first Green Policy outlining our commitments and targets to protect our environment. Green Events Co supported both The Final Straw and Drastic on Plastic campaigns and banned the use of all single-use plastics across our events.
We have continued our efforts to support green initiatives and reduce any impact made on our environment and local communities.
Looking ahead to 2020 we are working with events to look at the options of having a one-stop shop at your event, using local suppliers to provide all food, drinks and consumables for our concessions. This will significantly reduce transport and site traffic have a positive impact on the carbon footprint of your event. We will be requesting that ALL traders have a vegan option on their menus and use local seasonal and fair-trade produce.
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
Collaborative
Change
In 2018 we formed partnerships with NCASS, 8th Plate and Open Kitchen MCR to arrange for any surplus food at the events we ran to be collected and redistributed.
Green Events Co. work with both 8th Plate and Open Kitchen MCR to co-ordinate with traders to collect surplus food and redistribute it to the people around the UK who need it, significantly reducing the food waste at your events.
The food that has been intercepted is transformed into amazing meals for all through a range of activities. This incentive tackles food waste and its huge environmental impacts, access to enough food and great food for all, and social inclusion.
During 2019 we salvaged hundreds of kilos of bread, dairy, vegetables, fruit and meat which would have otherwise gone to landfill at the expense of the event. Our mission is to “feed bellies not bins!”
Travel
Carbon-Balancing
We’re working with Energy Revolution to tackle the environmental impacts from our travel to events. Travel is typically the largest contributor of carbon emissions at UK festivals so it’s a key place to start making the live events industry more sustainable.
Energy Revolution is a charity that helps festivals, audiences, suppliers and artists to act on climate change by measuring and reducing fossil fuel travel and balancing unavoidable emissions a with direct investment in projects that create clean renewable energy.
Green Events Co is working in partnership with Energy Revolution to tackle climate change. Green Events Co calculates travel carbon emissions to and from events and makes financial donations to ‘balance’ them. 100% of donations are invested in renewable energy projects; turning the travel carbon emissions into a world-changing positive investment.
Past donations have gone to powering wind turbine and reforestation projects in India, community owned solar and wind projects across the UK as well as helping homeowners install solar PV and biomass heating systems in charity-owned outdoor pursuit centres.
Energy Revolution works with over 40 of the UK’s best-loved events, including Boomtown, Shambala, Download, Reading, Wilderness, Kendal Calling, Bluedot and Port Eliot. Together Energy Revolution’s members have balanced over 5 million fossil fuel travel miles since 2015! We’re working with them to help them reach their target of 10 million miles by 2020.
For more information visit www.energy-revolution.org.uk