Why Sustainability Matters in Event Planning: Tips for Hosting Environmentally Conscious Events

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Why Sustainability Matters in Event Planning: Tips for Hosting Environmentally Conscious Events

Organizing environmentally conscious events begins at the planning of the event. A significant event can have a massive impact on the environment. Gigantic events tend to generate vast amounts of waste.

The obvious question arises here, how could massive events impact the environment? The organizations host huge conferences, weddings, fairs, and significant events.

Such events consume a ton of energy and produce much waste- for instance, food, water, plastic, and paper. That is often harmful to the environment. The massive waste generation can be avoided.

The event management industry can implement sustainable practices that lessen environmental impact.

Before we discuss the tips for hosting environmentally conscious events, there is a fundamental difference between sustainability and environmental consciousness.

Now let us try to understand the difference between sustainability and environmentally conscious.

What does sustainability stand for?

Sustainability and green are often interchangeably used to define an event. The terms are in use to describe the event that would lessen the environmental impact.

Furthermore, a lot of thought goes into event planning.

The event organizers would invest much timeḤ and energy into event planning. That would, in turn, educate the attendee of the event on what they can do to lessen the environmental impact.

Various factors contribute to how an event conveys the message to the attendees- for instance, the event and event organizers. Recently, organizing environmentally conscious events has been on the rise. 

Sustainable events are such events that feature organic food and eco-friendly venues.

Furthermore, they have fewer carbon footprints and use products that do not harm the environment.  

Why are sustainable events essential?

Sustainability is, instead, a process that ensures the preservation of the environment and natural resources. That would, in turn, create a better world to live in. 

On average, an attendee in the event generates at least 1.8 kilograms of waste daily. The trash usually ends up in landfills. That landfills cause severe damage to the environment.

People are increasingly aware of the environmental impact and have begun taking measures to preserve what remains of the environment. However, corporate social responsibility ensures that businesses stay valid to their customers.

Furthermore, the staff demand more from the companies and adopting sustainable practices reassures the staff that organizations care much more other than generating profits. 

Now let us look at the tips that you can use to host environmentally conscious events.

1. Use event management software

One effective way to ensure that your event is environmentally friendly is to use an event planning tool. Picktime, event management software is a great example of such software that can help you to reduce paper usage by allowing attendees to register and access information about the event digitally. Attendees can access the information online or through the Picktime mobile app, reducing the need for printed materials.

Picktime also offers a variety of features that can help you to streamline the event planning process and reduce the environmental impact of your event. For example, you can use Picktime to manage registrations, send automated reminders and notifications to attendees. This can help you to minimize the use of printed materials.

In addition, Picktime offers a range of analytics and reports that can help you to track your event’s carbon footprint. This data can help you to identify areas where you can make improvements and reduce your environmental impact.

Overall, Picktime event management software is a great tool for event planners who want to host environmentally conscious events. By using Picktime, you can reduce your event’s carbon footprint, streamline the planning process, and create a successful and sustainable event.

2. Fewer cannon footprints

You may wonder what the carbon footprint is. Carbon footprint is a scale to measure how much carbon gets released into the atmosphere. An environmentally- friendly event should strive to reduce the carbon footprint.

Therefore, while organizing an event, you can attempt to estimate roughly the amount of carbon footprint the event may produce. Then you can come up with strategies to reduce the carbon footprints.

For instance, you can source a local vendor to outsource catering services. However, you have to ensure that the local vendor has established eco-friendly practices.

Another way to reduce carbon footprint is to devise an intelligent travel plan. For instance, when you determine a location to host the event, select a location that reduces travel time significantly.

For example, choose a place that is easy to access and avoids travel by vehicle or airplane. Otherwise, a site that requires less travel by car or plane. 

However, you also have to ensure easy access to public transportation facilities that the attendees can use to reach the venue. 

3. Encourage group transportation

Suppose you cannot find a venue that meets your requirement with easy access. In that case, if the location is farther away, you can arrange a group transportation facility. The measure will assist you in reducing your carbon footprint and be a step closer to hosting an environmentally conscious event. 

4. Energy efficiency

Another way to host an environmentally conscious event is to reduce energy consumption at the venue. You may wonder how you can reduce energy consumption at the venue. You can use natural light to your advantage to make the best of it. 

Meanwhile, you can obtain a renewable energy certificate if you have the resources to produce the energy on-site.

However, you have to come up with an approximate energy consumption estimation. For instance, if the event is indoors, the energy consumption may constitute heating, cooling, ventilation, air-conditioning, and lighting equipment.

In such a case, you can considerably reduce energy consumption using an energy-efficient LED. Not only that, but you can also use equipment that consumes less energy for ventilation and air-conditioning. 

5. Water consumption

Massive events tend to consume a colossal amount of water. For that reason, to stay true to the sustainability strategy, it is essential to reduce water consumption.

Here are a few suggestions that you can use to reduce water consumption;

  • Take into account the season when the event gets hosted
  • Select a venue that has established measures to reduce water consumption.
  • Audit the venue to avoid any potential water leakage  

6. Use biodegradable materials 

Any massive event would serve food to the attendees. Another way to make hosting the event more sustainable is to serve the food on biodegradable plates and cups. That would assist in reducing waste generation considerably.

7. Consider organizing an virtual event

The virtual event would assist your organization in reaching a global audience. Organizing a virtual event is much more sustainable as it does not require any space to host it. Furthermore, hosting a physical event tends to produce much waste.

Conversely, the virtual event does not produce any waste and requires fewer emission norms to comply. 

In conclusion, sustainability is an essential consideration when planning events. Event planners can take several steps to reduce the environmental impact of events, such as selecting environmentally friendly venues, reducing energy consumption, and minimizing waste.

By implementing sustainable practices, event planners can not only reduce their carbon footprint but also create a positive image for their organization and make a positive contribution to the environment. 

Additionally, by raising awareness of sustainable practices, event planners can inspire attendees to adopt sustainable habits in their daily lives. Overall, hosting environmentally conscious events is a responsible and necessary step towards a greener and more sustainable future.