Last week we assisted Net Impact Bristol, a network of sustainable professionals, to deliver a ‘zero waste’ party. 

In this blog we share some of the great elements that made this a really memorable evening, where new friendships were struck and great advice exchanged. 

These ideas you can carry forward for your family festivities, New Year ’s Eve parties and even 2015 office meetings (although we don’t want to think about those just yet)!    

Choose a sustainable venue with good ethical credentials

We chose Co-exist at Hamilton House in Stokes Croft Bristol. Hamilton House was a disused office space that has been transformed into a community space. Co-exist’s ethos fits perfectly with Net Impact's.  

Upcycle household items

A limited budget and the zero waste theme gave us the licence to get creative!  The team came up with lots of ingenious ideas to create a festive theme, without purchasing anything new and with no tinsel in sight!

• Table lights – Jars and cans make great candle holders
  
• Drinking vessels – Jars and bottles can be used for this too
  
• The bar – The Co-exist bar is actually made from old pallets 
  
• The tree – A branch placed in a whisky bottle garnished with dried oranges created an original festive feel
  

Find refillable drink options

We were able to run our own bar so had planned to buy a large reusable barrel of cider. However it was more practical for mulled cider to get it in reusable containers. So we went to the local cider shop and bought cider by the litre in reusable containers.

Other reusable options: 

• If we had wanted beer we could have also got swing bottles filled at a local micro brewery.
  
• Reusable barrels of cider can be returned to shops or breweries. 
  

 

Mimimise washing up & single-use waste

For drinks, we asked guests to bring a vessel for their mulled cider. This minimised our washing up and need for disposable items.

For food, we ordered finger food that was served on platters in the middle of the tables. There were no plates or cutlery just napkins. Sharing platters around the table added to the networking, sharing and party atmosphere (even though people only knew one or two people in the room).

Seek out local food suppliers


Our 80 % vegetarian buffet was supplied by the Surplus Supper Club part of Fareshare SouthWest that divert surplus food from being wasted by the food industry.  

This was completely on theme and gave us a chance to briefly highlight and discuss the food waste debate. However it did mean we had items that came in lots of packaging (though better in our bellies than in the bin in packaging). 

People took leftover food home with them so their was minimal food waste at the end.




Other zero-waste catering ideas:

• Ask all guests to bring a homemade item
  
• Buy all olives, cheese and meat from local suppliers taking your own reusable containers along
  
• Prepare seasonal salads and vegetable based dishes from vegetables from a local grocer, farm shop or veg box
  
• Make your own popcorn from popping corn 
• Only order 80% of food required. Caterers generally over cater for buffets!
• Minimise your carbon footprint by going vegetarian or mostly meat-free
• Tell guests to bring a sandwich box for leftovers

Presence NOT presents

Whilst consumerism is currently over-drive we were keen to create a safe haven that valued the gift of sharing knowledge and advice rather than a silly secret Santa. 

So instead we asked guests to share one piece of advice they had received this year. The quotes were placed on our advice tree  



Some of the quotes included: 

Reduce and reuse paper waste


Whilst this was a ticketed event, we turned off all the print notifications on eventbrite and specifically reminded guests not to print tickets. Instead, we used an Ipad to sign people in when they arrived.  

We re-used scrap paper for drink vouchers and tags for the advice tree.

Rather than printing out any new materials for the advice tree we cut out quotes from magazines and reused a collection of postcards.  

Inspire your guests

People really bought into the zero waste theme with 2/3rds of guests bringing their own vessels. What's more people actually cheered about the lack of cutlery! 

Our pre-dinner speaker was a thought-provoking change maker, Melinda Watson from Raw Foundation, who highlighted her journey from packaging designer to anti- plastic campaigner, as well as the perils of plastic for the environment and health.

Be the change you want to see practical actions will serve to inspire your guests to think about their waste footprint.

So if you have a party coming up why don’t you take steps to go zero-waste. Look for ethical, sustainable venues and collaborators; choose refillable, reusable options; get creative and upcycle and finally inspire your guests to get involved.

Have you got other ideas or examples for a zero waste theme? Then share them with us below.  

Sustainability is not just good for the planet, it is also good for people and profit provided they all work in unison (those are the three p’s of sustainability). This blog post will detail in five bitesize chunks how adopting sustainable practices will benefit your business, and your workforce.

The financial benefits of monitoring and measuring

Monitoring and measuring resource usage is one of the first practical steps in adopting sustainability.  This could be energy, waste, water, staff hours, carbon, paper, printing, lifecycle of materials. By understanding your output you can then look at being more efficient. This of course will then save the pennies and the pounds. There are great examples of venues changing light bulbs to LED’s and saving thousands of pounds. 

There are lots of basic online tools to get you started with, although getting accurate data with a reputable system is ideal:

Energy calculator

Print monitor 

Festival Fuel Tool 

A Unique Selling Point that will win business

With a renewed focus on climate changes recently; sustainability is a growing concern around the globe.  So being able to offer sustainable event management initiatives gives your organisation a USP (unique selling point) for winning events and clients.  The Create Centre in Bristol credit their Green Tourism Awards with increased business and a waiting list for office space. 

Position yourselves as an International Player

Internationally, sustainability holds even greater gravitas and importance than in the UK. Many international events and organisations will only work with venues and organisations that work with an ISO standard or sustainable measures. A brilliant example of this is conference venue, Manchester Central, who won the Ecological Restoration World Congress in 2014 because they had adopted ISO 20121- the deal was worth 3.9m for Manchester’s economy! 

Improve your work culture and employee commitment

Sustainability is not just about the polar bears, it is about the people too! The culture in your business is key to your long-term success and a sustainable business model. By appointing a sustainability champion and hosting regular sustainability meetings your workforce will feel empowered to suggest improvements, new ideas and be more invested in your business. 

There are lots of social initiatives that can be implemented that are low cost but with great engagement such as collective bike schemes, gardening groups or even community bee hives on the roof!   

Get recognition as an industry leader

With event sustainability still a new area, becoming a leader in your sector really is an easy win.  This is clearly a great opportunity to publicise your business. What is more your competitors will be following your lead in best practice- you will be a trailblazer! And as we all know publicity is priceless in winning new business. 

So how do you get started, we hear you ask?

There were 4 key actions you can take:

• Identify your key issues
  
• Start monitoring and measuring 
  
• Appoint a sustainability champion  
  
• Seek out education materials and get support. 
  

Always hear to help

Don't forget the Sustainable Sidekicks are always on hand to come and put together an action plan for you.
Furthermore, following the success of the recent Introduction to Sustainable Event Management workshop in Bristol, we are planning another in Gloucestershire in early 2015. We will also be hosting the first Positive Impact Open Workshop in Bristol in March. To find out more, drop us an email.   

Share your sustainability success stories
How have you saved money, won business or improved your culture whilst minimising resource usage?  Share your stories with us 

Thinking about how to make your venue more ‘Sustainable’? Wondering how you can make it ‘Green’ apart from getting out the paint? Then let’s get inspired by Bristol’s Create Centre, the location of our forthcoming Sustainable Event Workshop on Tuesday 25th November.

 


The Create Centre just won the Goldstar Award in the Green Tourism Awards Conference and Events category, so it must be doing something right! To help you learn from the Create Centre’s good example we’ve pulled out 5 key areas. Some of these sustainability initiatives you can deploy in your conference or event venue right now, even with a limited budget. 

We hope the above has demonstrated there is so much you can do to make your venue award-winningly more sustainable. From monitoring and measuring to reducing resource usage and sharing knowledge, there are many sustainability initiatives that you can get started with now.  

But what to prioritise first I hear you cry? If you’ve found this article useful but feel you could do with a bit more guidance on how to get cracking yourself, come along on the 25th November 5-7pm for the Sustainable Event Workshop as we outline how to identify your goals and define your priorities. Register here.

What have you already done to make your venue more sustainable? Let us know in the comments below or get involved over on Twitter or Facebook. We’d love to hear from you!

I am always scouting out sustainable event and venue initiatives (I have a whole album of compost toilet images on my phone!) 


On my recent cycle tour around the current European Green Capital, Copenhagen, (the best way to do the Go Green is by bike). I was in awe of all the green spaces around the city. It seemed that around every corner there was a park with a raised vegetable bed or a building with a garden peering refreshingly out over the roof. 


I was intrigued to see how these standards had manifested in the construction of the Danish Broadcasting Company's Byen Building.  
This particularly immense, overwhelming modern building  was divided into four quarters which included a large music venue, recording studios, offices and a radio station all set on a barren, and visibly less green plot than other places I had seen.

Initially, when I arrived I was not sure whether I would be mistaken for just another X-factor contender. And whilst the random outbreak of song was charming, the auditions for the show did mean I couldn't have a nose around the building. 

However there were a number of features that were easily visible and confirmed by the slightly agitated receptionist (too much X-factor).

Staff and customer sustainability initiatives: 

• Bikes for guests to hire instead of taking taxis
• Composting in the staff canteen
  
• Live trees (no plastic imitations, these trees had roots) in the hallways
  
• Bee hives on the roof for urban social enterprise Bybi who train asylum seekers and homeless people to make honey and look after bees.

Energy efficiency 

As expected the building had been designed with energy efficiency and carbon reduction at it's core. the measures included:

• Largest solar heating system in Denmark The roof of DR Byen features a 1,060 m2 of solar cells which produce around 80-100 MWh per annum 
  

• Groundwater and fresh air cooling - I had initially thought the water was just a 'feature'  to create ambience, but how naive. The underwater lake the buildings were perched on was part of a clever cooling system, that worked alongside a natural air and night cooling. 

INVITATION

‘SUSTAINABLE EVENT MANAGEMENT FOR 2015 AND BEYOND’

Tuesday 25th November 2014

5-7pm

CREATE Centre, Smeaton Road, Spike Island, Bristol, BS1 6XN  Bristol

 

Climate change and sustainability are hot topics around the globe and Bristol, as European Green Capital, has a unique opportunity in 2015 to position itself as the ‘sustainable event destination’ in the UK. 

To assist the Bristol Event Industry to develop it's sustainable event credentials, Positive Impact Events will be hosting sustainable event workshops throughout 2015. In advance of these I would like to invite you to an introductory workshop.

During this introductory workshop discover more about:

·        Sustainable Event Management in practice

·        The ISO2012 Sustainable Event Management System

·        Improving the profitability, efficiency and reputation of your business

·        Positioning your enterprise as a leader in the field

Spaces are limited. Introductory fee £15* (This is non-refundable) 
R.S.V.P. by 13th November to secure a space
For more information get in  contact

Please sign up for the event online