Before you try and improve things, you need to know what impact your event is already having on the environment. Start measuring your carbon footprint (e.g. with tools provided by Julie’s Bicycle). Be able to clearly justify this footprint in discussions with colleagues.

Compare carbon footprint with collaborators and discuss goals and tactics.43

Divide up environmental impacts into groups, areas of impact. If you are short on time, start to focus on one impact per area. Examples of areas can be found on https://greenfestivals.ca/ under Greening Topics.

As with everything in event management, if you don’t plan properly it will either go wrong or possibly not happen at all. Choose which environmental impacts you’re going to focus on and set some realistic goals which you can improve on each year.

Adopt both top-down and bottom-up approaches. (Use bottom-up to get sufficient support and ideas from the general population. Use top-down approaches to use the power to change by the elites and policy makers).

Update the mission of your organization to incorporate fair and ecological practices. Set goals and guidelines to reduce your ecological impact.

Make sure you choose the right person to see through your plans. (Giving the responsibility to someone too senior may mean that things don’t get done and someone too junior might not have enough influence to encourage other stakeholders to get involved).

Think about when you’re going to get everything done. This is not just about planning when you’re going to implement your project but when you’re going to achieve the targets you’ve set. Create milestones and stick to them.

Instead of focusing on fast growth, slow down the pace.44

The best time to get input from contractors is when they’re bidding for the job, make sure you stipulate that you want their help with reducing environmental impacts.

 A good example if you’re running an outdoor event is to get your power contractor to start measuring power usage using remote monitoring systems. These systems can tell you how much power is actually being used by your generators in different parts of the show.

Make sure you involve contractors early so that they have plenty of time to prepare.

 Involve your stakeholders by including communicative strategies (e.g. ‘The climate was not hurt by creating this project’).

Choosing the right bin is important. Signage should be clear and bold and state exactly what needs to go in each bin. Avoid long lists of dos and don’ts which will confuse people. Restricting the aperture is also a good plan.

Make sure that your contractor is being honest about what happens to your waste too. Make it part of their contract to tell you where the rubbish and recycling has gone.

It shouldn’t stop in the front house areas. Providing recycling services for your catering units can really bump up your recycling figures. Food waste is one of the biggest problems in landfill because it breaks down without air and creates methane gas.45