Green Your Holiday Party
It’s commonly known in the events industry that events are one of the top waste producers and not in a good way. Left behind marketing collateral, business cards, centerpieces, binders with reams of paper inside, wasted food, water bottles with one sip taken and left, printed signage, once-used carpeting and so much more.
Event planners, chefs, venues and others are working to reduce the waste by adding green initiatives as part of the planning process.
Let’s utilize the adage of reduce, reuse and recycle as our categories to reduce the environmental impact of your next event.
REDUCE
Reduce paper usage even in the planning process. Do you really need to print agendas for planning meetings? Email them out prior to the meetings and show them on screen in the meeting (if possible)
If you can’t go paperless use paper that is 100% post-consumer recycled, chlorine free, printed with soy/vegetable ink and print double-sided.
Instead of individual water bottles, create water stations with glassware. This can look elegant with fruit slices and herbs in the water containers.
Segregate the trash receptacles by Recycle, Compost (food waste) and Landfill (general trash). It’s important to mark these receptacles well so people put the correct items in each, if not, your efforts are wasted….pun intended.
Remove single-use plastics or individually packaged items like eating utensils, condiments, straws, etc.
*FYI, even if you buy paper plates and cups that say they can be recycled, once they have food/beverage on them they can no longer be recycled.
RE-USE / REPURPOSE
Rental Equipment is a great option to significantly reduce items going to landfill. Instead of using paper plates, cups , plastic table covers and plastic eating utensils, rent dishware, glassware and linens to elevate the look of the event.
Buy/Rent Pre-used Décor through the many options online like eBay, TheKnot.com and Craigslist to purchase or rent décor from a prior event. The wedding industry has websites dedicated to helping brides/grooms to sell goods to offset the high costs of their big day. Why not use it for your corporate event.
Repurpose glass jars. Remove labels of your favorite condiment jars and use as a vase or batch a bunch together and place votive candles inside for a really pretty setting.
Re-use Items from the event taking place before or after your event. Talk to the venue and see if you can communicate with the event planner from the other event to see if you can pool interests and use similar rental equipment, décor and Audio/Visual equipment. This could reduce overall costs for both events AND reduce the fuel for deliveries.
RECYCLE
Mark the recycling bins VERY well. You want to make certain the correct items are placed in the bin. Sometimes it’s best to literally list the items that go in or even better have a picture or display the actual items next to the bin.
Confirm with the venue and/or city that what you think is recyclable will be recycled. Not everything with a recycling label can be recycled (i.e. wet cardboard like boxes for soy/almond milk or soup broth cannot be recycled).
IMPORTANT NOTE: Educate and remind profusely the event staff, volunteers and guests about the green initiatives to help in the process. If guests throw everything in one bin and disregard the compost and recycle bin, then you have wasted this opportunity.
Looking for more information to ‘Green’ your next event - our mini playbook ‘4 Steps to Green Your Event’ could be the right resource for you. The playbook will expand on the above, provide definitions to the confusing terms and let you know options to keep it ‘Kelly’ green at your next holiday party.
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