What would you give up?

According to sustainable event management organization Meet Green, meetings generate landfill waste and emit an average of 389 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) into the atmosphere every day. This is bad news for the planet.

The good news is that making your event more sustainable doesn’t have to be overwhelming. You can stop doing things that a lot of attendees won’t miss, and they might even prefer it.

Here are five things you can give up for your next event.

1. Animal food

“Animal-based foods, especially red meat, dairy products and farmed shrimp, are often associated with the highest greenhouse gas emissions,” the United Nations said.

“Reducing food waste and eating a plant-rich diet are two of the most important, fundamental steps that all live event planners can take to combat climate change,” said Shawna McKinley, principal at Clear Current Consulting.

She noted that TED only offers low-impact proteins, including vegan and vegetarian options. Various studies have shown that vegetarian and vegan diets produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions than meat-containing diets. Encourage vegetarian menus

Tracy Stuckrath, founder of Thrive Conferences and Events, recommends basing menus around organic, local and seasonal ingredients. They require less energy-intensive growing methods and transportation, and support local farmers.

She also stressed the importance of asking attendees about dietary restrictions. “When participants are vegetarians or follow religious dietary practices, there is no need to order steak for them,” Stackras said.

Surplus food should also be donated. Stuckrath said this requires coordination in advance to ensure venues can do it and local companies can accept it.

Another tip from Stuckrath is to emphasize whole foods and minimally processed ingredients. These foods typically have a lower environmental impact than highly processed, prepackaged foods, she said.

When it comes to seafood, Stuckrath recommends choosing products that are sustainably sourced and certified by organizations like the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC).

2. Non-essential travel

Travel is the largest source of carbon emissions from activities. Choosing a location closer to attendees can help reduce overall travel and create a more sustainable event. Some companies encourage attendees to use mass transit.

Event planners should provide shuttle services to and from events and use energy-efficient or electric vehicles to further reduce emissions. Additionally, promoting ridesharing or carpooling among attendees can also help. Provide incentives.

A new partnership between event:decision and You.Smart.Thing will help planners create low-carbon journeys for events. Providing sustainable door-to-door travel plans. This global system recommends personalized low-carbon journey options, documents mode choices, considers intermodal routes and curates visitor experiences that encourage sustainable travel.

3. Disposable items

Disposable items should be eliminated wherever possible. For example, use reusable cutlery and cutlery instead of disposables.

Stuckrath recommends water stations instead of bottled water and encourages attendees to bring their own reusable cups or bottles.

Replace cut flowers with succulents or fresh fruit that can be donated.

Another area of ​​waste is scrap. Often, these logo items sit unused and ignored in people’s closets, eventually being discarded.

Eco-friendly, responsibly sourced giveaways are becoming more and more popular. For ideas, see “Swag Has a New Swagger: An Eco-Friendly Giveaway from the Conference.”

CES is an exhibition dedicated to sustainability. It’s been upgraded and remodeled as much as possible. More than 1 million square feet of carpet, more than 33,000 square feet of magnetic banners and more than 5,660 square feet of vinyl banners were recycled and reused. They have been transformed into tarps, hockey rink liners and outdoor movie screens.

IMEX is another event with sustainability as its core value. It aims to achieve net zero activity by 2030.

4. Plastic lanyard

Event badges are an important part of meetings. They help identify and connect with peers. They are also often not recycled and end up in landfills.

More sustainable campaigns address this issue in a number of ways.

With this in mind, promotional products company Fairware created a lanyard lending library that contains thousands of lanyards available for loan. Shipping charges not included; they expect at least 85% to be returned. Then clean the lanyard and get it ready for the next event. The company encourages customers and users to share photos of the lanyards on social media.

At Caesars Entertainment’s inaugural Global Wellness Summit, attendee badges and daily notes were printed on handmade paper and embedded with wildflower seeds for planting and recycling.

5. Guess

Before planning a sustainability event or meeting, it’s important to set event sustainability goals. Baselines are needed, and specific goals need to be established to measure performance.

Data is helpful, Stackras said. Especially historical consumption reports. What did the attendees eat and not eat? What is the attendance rate for dining events? For one of her clients, only 50% of attendees attended breakfast and lunch because many people went out to eat these meals. Knowing this can save a lot of money and avoid overproduction of food.

For example, TED is also working with Klimato to report the amount of carbon dioxide used in the food it serves.

In addition, a number of products and services are designed to help planners calculate activity-related carbon emissions at all levels. The Sustainable Events Institute recently released a comprehensive review and comparison of nearly 40 greenhouse gas tools, calculators and apps for event marketing.

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