Ways to reduce waste include:

Production & Infrastructure:

• Hire don’t buy
• Design in end of life salvage for all purpose-built elements.

Giveaways and Event Collateral:

• Restrict useless giveaways
• Give things people want to keep
• Ban plastic bags
• Reduce packaging

Audience Waste:

• Use re-usable food and beverage containers
• Inform audience what is available at the even to avoid over-catering for themselves.

Food & Beverage Service:

• Avoid over catering
• Have a food salvage program in place (Oz Harvest)
• Use bulk dispensing, not bottles or cans poured into cups (double waste)
• Use disposables that can be recycled or composted.
• Take back the tap – use tap water not bottled water
• No single serve sachets

Registrations & Ticketing

• Committing to paperless registration, completing it online where possible.
• Communicate all event information online & via email.
• Paperless ticketing.

Promotions, marketing, merchandise and sponsors

• Reduce the volumes of promotional flyers and posters printed and distributed.
• Be frugal in producing your printed program and other printed materials for the event.
• Ban all flyer distribution at your event, by traders, NGOs, sponsors and the event itself.
• Ban waste creating ‘give-ways’ by sponsors, NGOs and traders – encourage ‘experiential’ activities rather than sample giveaways if they will create waste.
• Ensure all sponsors meet your waste, purchasing and production guidelines.
• Ensure all NGOs meet your waste, purchasing and production guidelines.

Traders, catering, bars

• Use refillable and reusable cups, containers, plates and cutlery. Put deposits and refunds in place to ensure they are returned.
• Ask all traders to use bulk dispensing – not single sachets of sugar, butter, sauces, salt & pepper etc.
• Ban drinking straws.
• Don’t allow plastic bags to be used, instead offer re-usable bags for sale – important for merchandise stalls.
• Ban polystyrene packaging from traders (goods packaging as well as cups and burger trays)
• If you must use disposable food service-ware, make sure it is compostable and that you collect it separately.
• If you must use drinks in bottles, cans and tetrapaks, ensure that they are collected separately and recycled.

 

Drinking Water
Bottled drinking water is a major creator of waste. The most environmentally preferable option is to provide water from the town mains supply and dispensed into re-usable bottles.

• Use tap water or bulk stored water where possible.
• Encourage participants to bring re-usable water bottles.
• Sell or provide re-usable water bottles.
• Sell or provide water bottle holders/carriers which will encourage re-filling bottles.