Beyond the Trash Bin: Making Zero Waste Events a Reality
Posted by Eco-Products on Feb 13th 2025
Beyond the Trash Bin: Making Zero Waste Events a Reality
From conferences to concerts, every event presents an opportunity to reduce waste going to landfills and inspire lasting change. By collaborating with venues, organizers and attendees, anyone can turn Zero Waste from a lofty aspiration into an achievable reality.
What is Zero Waste?
Zero Waste seeks to eliminate trash from planning to cleanup. That means preventing waste from the source, reusing materials where possible and recycling or composting what’s leftover. While achieving absolute “zero” is extraordinarily challenging, the goal encourages continuous improvement and helps create systems that are more sustainable for the long term.
For businesses and organizations, embracing Zero Waste not only highlights a strong commitment to sustainability but also drives innovation, reduces costs, and builds brand reputation.
What goes into organizing a Zero Waste event?
Hosting a Zero Waste event entails careful planning of all phases of the event, with the overall goal of diverting as much waste as possible from landfills. This is where partnering and education come in — from choosing the best vendors to selecting the right products to encouraging event participants to dispose of waste in the proper recyclable, compostable or trash bin.
What are some tips for hosting a Zero Waste event?
Here are a few ways to help make your Zero Waste event a success:
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Think concretely and practically. Draft your Zero Waste event plan with benchmarks for reducing waste and clearcut strategies for reaching them. Even small steps make for a good start. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of the good.
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Seek out venues and vendors that are like-minded. Do your research and look for venues and vendors that are already committed to composting, recycling and reusing.
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Determine the end-of-life infrastructure available for foodservice products. If you are able to compost at your event, make sure to only source compostable products to avoid contamination at the compost facility.
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Give clear directions for waste sorting. Bold, clear signs labelling containers for recycling, composting or general trash will ensure the waste is diverted to the right facilities. Make it convenient to dispose of waste easily and correctly. It helps to have an employee or volunteer near the bins to guide guests and answer questions.
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Strive to prevent food waste, which can be a major problem at many events. Work with caterers and the venue to control food portions or setup. Make sure guests know that food waste goes in compostable bins. Be prepared to donate leftover food if there are available facilities.
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Go digital. Mobile apps, QR codes, websites and social media make paper handouts unnecessary and wasteful.
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Educate, encourage and share your success. If and where possible, tally your success and publicize it. Let shareholders know you diverted X-many tons of trash or tell participants at your conference they are helping the environment by using sustainable utensils at lunch.
Whether you are a CEO hosting a major conference or a bride-to-be planning a wedding, everyone can strive for Zero Waste. At its core, it’s about accepting a rewarding challenge to eliminate and divert waste for a better, cleaner, more sustainable world for all.