Sustainable Events News

It’s already billed as one of the world’s most challenging competitions, but this year the organizers of the Volvo Ocean Race added an extra dimension to the gruelling 45,000-nautical mile journey—they pledged to host the most sustainable race ever, drastically reduce their use of plastics and change mindsets around the world.

It's excellent to see the Events Industry Council creating their event sustainability principles. These dovetail perfectly with the Sustainable Event Alliance's membership charter which can be viewed here:

https://sustainable-event-alliance.org/membership-charter/

So great to see we're all on the same page! We hope that the Events Industry Council work in this space will broaden the reach an interest in sustainability amongst the general events population!

#sustainabilityisthenewnorm 

The prospect of hosting an Olympic Games will always split the opinion of a city’s inhabitants. Many will see it as an investment. A chance to improve surrounding infrastructure and gain significant exposure. Think London, and how the 2012 Games proved to be the catalyst for the complete transformation of an unloved, neglected and a frankly uninhabitable patch of the UK’s capital.

It's been a busy 2018 for the IOC sustainability team, with reports, publications and strategies unveiled. Marie Sallois and Michelle Lemaitre talk to Sports Sustainability Journal.

We would like to welcome to the Sustainable Event Alliance, our new cohort of event sustainability experts, enthusiasts, and solutions providers to our Leadership Team, who together will guide this professional guild in the coming year.

With global reach, and a huge rang of event sector representation and subject matter expertise, the information, advice, support and resources coming from the Sustainable Event Alliance to the event sector is set to flourish. 

As volunteers, these industry professionals are dedicating their time to help the growth of sustainability within the event sector - covering sports, festivals, conferencing, special events, exhibitions and destination marketing. 

Find out who our Leadership Team members are.

Amazing news from Brussels this week - AirQon has received funding support from UIA (Urban Innovative Actions)  to set up event power charging from electric vehicles. Amazing work both of you - we can't wait to see what you can do! Read the news

It’s already billed as one of the world’s most challenging competitions, but this year the organizers of the Volvo Ocean Race added an extra dimension to the gruelling 45,000-nautical mile journey—they pledged to host the most sustainable race ever, drastically reduce their use of plastics and change mindsets around the world.

At the Shanghai stopover of China Open Sailing (COS), Bluewater supplied pure water to all guests and sailors enabling the event to say no to single-use plastic water bottles.

Reclaimed Organics collects food waste in NYC and composts it in a community garden. http://www.reclaimedorganics.org/

Events could inspire the creation of this service, or if there's one in your city, get it involved in your event.

In January 2019, a group of extraordinary athletes came together to develop an important message to their fans at the Luge World Championships in Winterberg, Germany.

In 2018 individuals and organisations took action to hold corporations accountable for the plastic pollution they force into the marketplace through unnecessary, problematic and excessive throwaway packaging and materials. Break Free From plastic member organisations engaged nearly 10 000 volunteers in 239 cleanups in 42 countries on 6 continents, collecting over 187 851 pieces of plastic pollution. 

By adding 'brand audits' to the cleanups, thousands of parent companies were represented in the log. Their analysis reveals the Top Polluters as:

Coca Cola
PepsiCo
Nestle
Danone
Mondelez International
Procter and Gamble
Unilever
Perfetti van Melle
Mars Incorporated
Colgate Palmolive

The top three accounted for 14% of the branded plastic pollution found.

What is heartening is many of these brands realise they must take direct action in producer responsibility of the products they sell in disposable packaging, into markets where no collection system is in place. Reports like this one can only help to accelerate action by producers, government and communities.

From plastic straws to the complete elimination of single-use plastics, more and more in the hospitality industry are opting to create a sustainable travel experience.

In an attempt to reduce the number of single-use plastic water bottles thrown away at the UK’s largest construction show, UK Construction Week (UKCW) has partnered with Join the Pipe to install water fountains around the event providing free tap water to its 35,000 visitors.