Your quick event greening checklist – 6 key things to consider

Event greening does what it says on the tin. It’s the process of making an event more environmentally friendly – or ‘greener’ – by taking considered steps to reduce its carbon footprint and other environmental impacts.  

On a mission to make your next event less harmful to the planet? Read on for our quick event greening checklist, covering six key areas you’ll need to pay attention to for a more sustainable operation. 

How do you make an event greener?

There are lots of ways to make an event greener – from choosing to work with ethical and sustainable suppliers, through to cutting down on paper and plastic usage. Ultimately, it’s all about assessing where you can reduce your event’s impact on the environment. That means looking at all different areas of your event, from the food you serve to the waste you create, and everything in-between. 

It’s true, though – it can be easy to get overwhelmed when you start digging into your event’s environmental impact. This is totally normal! The important thing is not to give up on your event greening efforts altogether. Every little helps when it comes to sustainable practices. So even if you don’t feel able to tackle all aspects of event greening, choosing a few key areas to focus on is still a really valuable thing to do. 

6 things to double check for successful event greening

Waste

Waste is a serious issue in the events sector. From masses of leftover food to unwanted gifts and merchandise, there’s potential for a huge amount of waste to be generated by a single event. It goes without saying that this is definitely not in the planet’s best interest.  

So it follows that to make your event greener, efficient waste management and reduction is key. Get started with these steps:

• Make sure you’ve got a robust recycling scheme set up to help deal with any waste from your event.
• Make it super easy for attendees to recycle at your event with appropriate bins and recycling points.
• Use biodegradable products wherever possible.
• Invest in higher-quality staff uniforms that can be washed and reused time and time again.
• Make it your event’s ‘thing’ that you’re going completely paperless – that means no handouts, paper invites, or printed materials of any kind (you’ll need to digitise everything instead).
• If you’re going to give out freebies, merchandise or gifts of any kind, make sure they’re genuinely valuable, so they’re not just thrown away. 
• Give your caterers final attendee numbers as close as possible to the event, so they can account for as many cancellations as possible.

Catering 

Opt for a catering supplier that puts sustainability at the forefront of what they do. Things like where your caterer sources produce from, what kinds of ingredients they use, and how much plastic they use can all help significantly reduce your event’s environmental impact.

Venue

When it comes to choosing a more environmentally-friendly venue for your event, things to consider include:

• Does the venue have any green initiatives? Look out for venues with initiatives to cut down on water wastage (like with water saving devices on toilets), as well as initiatives to cut out the use of single-use plastics. Lots of venues also have energy-saving features too, like smart room temperature controls.
• How far do attendees have to travel to get to the venue? The less they have to travel – the greener your event is.

Top tip: Making your event hybrid can seriously reduce its carbon footprint, as you’ll be cutting down on the need for at least some of your attendees to travel, and you can use a smaller venue too. Check out how Ticket Tailor can help you sell tickets to Zoom events here.

• Can attendees get to the venue on public transport? If they have to drive their own cars there, your event’s carbon footprint will be a lot higher. 
• How far do suppliers have to travel to get to the venue? The less distance they have to come, the better.

You might not be able to tick all boxes when it comes to choosing a greener venue, but even just considering a couple of ‘green’ factors can make a big difference.

Exhibitors 

Exhibitors will naturally want to use a lot of bells-and-whistles to grab attendees’ attention at your event. But looking for those with a green conscience can really help lower your event’s carbon footprint. Things like what lighting exhibitors use (LED lights can reduce your carbon footprint by 70%), and how much paper and plastic they use, are good things to consider.

If you’ve already secured exhibitors, why not have a conversation with them about how they can make their operation greener at your event? A gentle nudge in the right direction can often be all it takes to get others on board.

Suppliers

Aim to work with suppliers that have their own green initiatives, like:

• Cutting down on single use plastics
• Sourcing produce from sustainable sources 
• Cutting down on water wastage 

Invitations & communications

Avoid sending out unnecessary paper usage by making all your communications digital. From invites to marketing materials – there’s no reason they can’t all be created and shared online in 2022!

Trying to make your event more sustainable is a commendable step to take in contributing to the battle against climate change. Whether you’re a seasoned sustainability pro or brand new to the cause – we hope this quick checklist helps you keep your event greening efforts on track. Good luck!