Event planning can be fun but also stressful for the planner. And it’s not just the planner who’s under a lot of pressure due to events—it’s our environment as well. In order to produce an event that everyone can be proud of, it’s crucial to be sustainable and green. But how can someone organize an event like that both with and without professional help? Well, here are a few tips on planning a sustainable event that will benefit everyone involved without harming the environment:
Pick the right location
Some event venues have a much better understanding of green practices than others. If you’re planning an indoor event, opt for a venue with natural cooling or heating, natural lighting, energy-efficient systems, proper waste management practices and access to accommodation so your guests don’t have to commute far away. Outdoor events need to be equipped with appropriate infrastructure to support your guests’ needs—eco-friendly toilets, garbage cans, food disposals, etc.
Serve the right foods
No matter if you’re having a family get-together, celebrating a birthday, or organizing a serious corporate event, you need to serve your guests some tasty foods. It’s often the highlight of the event so your food needs to be beautiful, tasty, and green. The best thing you can do is go vegetarian or even vegan foods made with locally-produced foods. This is a great way to support local farmers and small family businesses and reduce horrible transport pollution. Your food will be fresher and free of pesticides and antibiotics, and you will get to do plenty of good for the community and your guests.
Your food can be served on compostable plater or reusable plates. If there are any leftovers, you can either pack them for your guests to take home or contact your local soup kitchen. Many organizations accept fresh leftovers they can serve to needy people or turn them into meals for animals.
Get eco-friendly signage
If you’re organizing a small family event, you can consider putting up banners and putting up various decorations. Opt for paper banners that can be recycled or bio-degraded to reduce waste and still ensure plenty of color and fun for the event. Cardboard decorations, plates and straws are also very easy to come by and they can be naturally destroyed or thrown into the compost. For bigger events like corporate conventions or product premiers, the decoration needs to be more serious. One of the first things everyone might consider for branding the event is teardrop banners. Today, it’s possible to get 100% carbon-neutral teardrop banners that manage to net-release zero CO2 into the environment, all thanks to strong offsetting efforts. If you find a signage manufacturer that supports causes like regenerating the local forests, you can be as green as possible with your event.
Plan for waste disposal
Did you know that almost 50% of all event waste ends up in landfill? You don’t want your event to contribute to that never-ending pile of trash, so make sure to plan for proper waste disposal. Try to plan for reusing, reducing and recycling during and after the event. For instance, you can reuse your old decorations and fill the place with reusable plates, cutlery and glasses. When it comes to organic waste, it should be collected and added to compost. Many things can be composted such as food scraps, flower arrangements, flyers, landscaping clippings, etc. Make sure to have plenty of bins so your guests can separate the trash and prepare it for recycling.
Focus on digital event marketing
We live in the age of digitalization, so things like paper invites are a thing of the past. These not only cost a fortune, but they are always thrown in the trash after the event. Instead of physical invites and paper info fliers, you can reduce waste and postage by sending out e-invites. When it comes to instructions for the event and the event program, provide links in the e-invite so people can get informed without creating waste. Your event marketing efforts can also be completely digitalized. Forget about fliers or paper posters, and opt for social media posting and e-mail marketing—this is both cheaper and creates zero waste.
Your event can be huge and popular without producing huge amounts of waste. With these strategies mentioned above, you can organize the event of the season and treat your guests to a perfectly green and sustainable experience.
