Introduction
In the event planning industry, there are a lot of opportunities for waste. With more people becoming interested in in environmentally sustainable, there is an abundance of opportunities for change in the industry. This concept is known as “Sustainable Event Management” or “Event Greening”. Events, small or large, happen every day and have a large impact on the environment around us. Even the smallest aspects can have a huge negative impact. I chose this trend because I am planning on joining the event planning industry and I think that it is important to protect our environment while doing so. In reviewing this trend, I will include a background, examples, and views on where this trend will go in the future.
Background
While concern for the environment has become a big topic recently, the first time that there were environmental concerns regarding events was in 1992 at the Winter Olympics. This led to the “Green Games” in Norway in 1994. It is important to monitor and evaluate the effects of providing greening interventions to an event. Following the Green Games, other major sporting events began considering their environmental impacts. When it comes to larger events, there are international standards that must be met such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). The GRI Standards were the first global standards for sustainability reporting. They provide event organizers with specific guidelines that they can report on to measure their impact. While the GRI Standards were the first, there are many other standards that event organizers can focus on.
Examples:
One example of a green event is the Glastonbury Music Festival in the United Kingdom. The festival committee is very conscious of the direct impacts they have on the environment. They have committed to enhancing the environment whenever possible and to minimize any negative impacts. The yearly event, with approximately 177,550 attendees, takes place at Worthy Farm in the middle of the growing season. By doing so, they are able to prevent using environmentally damaging conventional farming practices which would have a more intrusive impact on the environment. They ask that the guests to think zero waste and take home what they bring.
The festival committee places controls on what is bought onsite by staff, contractors, sponsors, and traders which reduces their percentage of waste that ends up in landfills. All cans, glass, paper, wood, and organic waste are separated and recycled. They are able to do this by having 15,000 clearly marked bins for wet and dry recyclables and for non-recyclables. In 2014, half of all the waste generated was recycled and they have hopes that the percentage will rise each year. That same year they were able to recycle 251,327 pounds of composted organic waste, 238,099 pounds of glass, cans, and plastic water bottles, and 90,390 pounds of cardboard among many other items. Their current mission is to reduce these volumes of waste by implementing a reduce, reuse, and recycle policy.
The Glastonbury Festival is able to make this all possible by having teams of volunteers that contribute to the recycling efforts. Many of these volunteers work for a charity of their choice, meaning they money they would earn is donated to the charity they are working for. The festival is almost completely solar powered and are constantly looking for new initiatives and technologies. Currently, their solar panels take up 1,500 meters of land and generate the same amount of power that is used annually by 40 homes. Any power that is not used to then exported to National Grid. Some of the other measures taken to make this event green are banning plastic bags, using compost bathrooms, having all tea, coffee, sugar, and hot chocolate sold onsite be Fairtrade, only using compostable and reusable plates and cutlery, and encouraging all guests to bring a reusable water bottle. The Glastonbury Festival is the world’s largest single regular donor to Greenpeace, a non-governmental environmental organization.
In 2008 and 2012, the University of Oregon held the U.S. Olympic Trials for track and field, both of which are among the most environmentally responsible sporting events in the United States. The 2008 event won the International Olympic Committee’s Sport and Environment award and the 2012 event earning a Gold level certification from the Council for Responsible Sports. The Oregon athletic department worked with the city of Eugene and a collection of campus partners to plan energy use, waste management, and transportation needs for the events. The event team was able to reduce the need for mobile generators with the help of the fans. In 2008, guests lined up to help generate power by riding a spin bike and in 2012, they were able to run on a human hamster wheel. The event was planned to have 220,000 attendees so a transportation plan was created. The first bike and skateboard valet service at an Olympic competition was introduced and all ticket holders and credentialed volunteers were provided with free local bus transportation.
In 2008, the event achieved a 70 percent waste diversion rate and was able to increase that number to 78 percent at the 2012 event. This was possible by using strictly compostable service ware and recycling all plastic, aluminum cans, and paper products. Due to the success of the 2008 event, the Oregon athletic department looked for ways to permanently improve the environmental performance of all athletic department facilities. In 2010, the athletic department partnered with the Office of Sustainability to complete the nation’s first greenhouse gas inventory and sustainability report for a Division 1 athletic department. This report was able to shed light on several environmental initiatives such as developing an environmentally-oriented purchasing policy, initiating recycling and composting collection as all sports events and implementing energy efficient upgrades to all facilities. Both Oregon Athletics and the city of Eugene view sports greening as a positive investment and a way to educate fans on sustainable lifestyle choices.
Looking Ahead
As the world becomes more environmentally conscious and sustainability efforts increase, I believe that event greening will be the norm. Event greening allows for largescale sustainability and the chance to educate the public. In the time to come, green events will be one of the most important factors in guest attendance and satisfaction. This trend will lead to people no long asking if an event is sustainable but rather what steps are being taken to enhance their contribution to greening. What is critical to the success of this trend is communication with attendees. Events need to explain what is being done and why. This is also a learning opportunity for people to continue these sustainability practices in their everyday life. The concept of event greening has been growing since the early 1990’s and will continue to evolve.