Provide a mug/plate/cutlery library and washing station at your next event, to make it easy for participants and vendors to reduce single-use plastic.

How you can do it

As well as ensuring vendors don’t use plastic, and encouraging people to bring their own reusable alternatives, many events are now providing a mug, plate and cutlery library plus washing up station. It’s a great solution for participants who forget to bring their own.

You don’t necessarily have to purchase your own brand new reusables, either. Options for creating the library include:

• • hiring from an event supplier
  • borrowing from a club, community group or venue
  • establishing your own utensil library from secondhand shops or tip shops (where waste service providers separate out items for reuse).

Along with your library of reusables, you’ll need to create a washing up station. There are some essentials you should include:

• • Tubs that can be set up in a prominent place.
  • An urn for hot water, to wash mugs in adherence with local hygiene standards.
  • Dish stacking stands, for drying and keeping the space organised.
  • Volunteers to help wash up, or signage to invite participants to wash and return their mugs, plates or cutlery.

If you do rely on the help of volunteers, it helps to create a roster so that they take it in turns. Putting a few volunteers on at a time will encourage them to chat and get to know each other.

Putting your washing up station somewhere visible is a great way to spark conversation at your event and showcase your efforts.

Taking the next steps:

After the event, debrief with vendors, organisers and staff to assess what went well and what can be improved. If possible, ask attendees as well (potentially by asking them to fill out a survey at the event or  in your next newsletter).

Consider amending vendor applications at future events to further reduce single-use plastics.

The Impact

• Modelling sustainable behaviour can show others how easy it is to have an impact, helping to spread the message to choose to refuse.
• Making it easy for people to avoid single-use plastics is an effective way of bringing everyone along on the journey.
• A washing up station can be a great way to bring like-minded people together for a common goal, and establish a sense of community.

The post Keeping it clean appeared first on Plastic Free July.

Create signage and effective communication so participants know how to reduce single-use plastics at your event.

How you can do it

Many event organisers use our Reusables card for ideas on what single-use plastics can be avoided and how to provide or encourage the alternatives. This is a great starting point. From there, you can more easily create an inventory of single-use plastics likely to arrive at your event, and think through the messages and prompts that will help your participants to adopt the alternatives.

For example, your aim may be for participants to bring their own alternatives, such as a reusable water bottle, bags and coffee cups. This will require messages in the days prior to your event to prompt people to remember their reusable items.

If you want to provide alternatives on the day, you’ll need to put signage around that directs people to where they can find them (and, if necessary, how to use them).

To be most effective, create a plan for the signage and communications well in advance. It might include creating signage and displaying it in prominent places, adding instructions on items to help people to reuse items, and creating appropriate social media content in the lead up to the event.

Keep your communication positive and action-orientated. Let attendees know what they can do to help reduce single-use plastics. By registering your event on our event map you’ll also help people be aware of the plastic free message.

Taking the next steps:

When considering the signage you need for your event, these common messages can serve as inspiration:

• • Signs for the location of bins.
  • Messages on each bin to say what goes in them (eg food waste in compost bin) and what does not (eg recyclables in the general waste bin).
  • Prominent signage directing people to stations for refillable water and washing up so people can find them easily
  • Prompts on plates and mugs such as ‘take me to the wash station for reuse’.
  • Signage at vendor stalls explaining why the event is reducing plastic and where to find reusables.

You don’t need to just rely on physical signs though. Train event staff to communicate the move away from single-use plastics, including:

• • Why the event is plastic waste-free.
  • Where washing up stations and refill stations can be found.
  • What goes in which bin (and why).

Finally, encourage attendees to tag @plasticfreejuly in any social media posts they make. This can help remind people of the bigger community and impact that they are a part of.

The Impact

• Showing people how to reduce single-use plastic is a great way to get everyone on board the issue. The easier it is, the more impact you will have.
• Including messages on why you’ve chosen to reduce single-use plastics (e.g. to reduce marine pollution, avoid litter and cut down on waste) will encourage people to adopt plastic free alternatives as their own contribution to making a difference.
• With the right signage and communications, events can significantly reduce their single-use plastic and inspire participants to adopt new sustainable practices.

The post Event signage appeared first on Plastic Free July.

Choose to offer reusable items at your next event.

How you can do it

You can turn your next event into a plastic waste free one with a bit of planning and creativity. You may need a team of people who can help you out. It’s usually easier that way, plus you can share ideas and challenges and celebrate wins together.

Most plastic waste free events start by creating an inventory of the single-use items that participants are likely to use at the event. This could include plastic water bottles, plates, cups, and cutlery. Keep this list for future reference (and as a way to measure how far you’ve come!)

Many events start small, picking one single-use plastic item that can be swapped for reusables. Often, people find that water is a great place to start. You’ll need to consider both how people can access the water and what they can drink from.

You can hire water filtration stands, or find suppliers who provide large refillable bottles of water (a quick search online will help you locate options near you). Offering and washing cups, or selling reusable bottles, will provide a convenient solution at the event.

If the only solution is to bring your own reusable bottle or cup, then be sure to let everyone know before the event. Check out our Event Signage card for more on how to do this.

Taking the next steps

After you’ve successfully swapped out one item on your list, you can start working your way through the others and finding reusable alternatives. You might also want to consider a washing up station or mug library – check out our Keeping it Clean card to find out more.

More and more businesses will loan you cutlery, plates and cups for your event and then take them back and wash them at the end. This is a great way to go low-waste without much effort.

The Impact

• Switching to reusable systems can be a great way to reduce single-use plastics at your next event. This reduces pressure on recycling systems and saves money on cleaning up afterwards.
• Modelling sustainable behaviour can show others how easy it is to have an impact, and help to spread the message to ‘choose to refuse’.

The post Reusables at events appeared first on Plastic Free July.

Choose to refuse single-use plastic at your event.

How you can do it

Most events require vendors to fill out an application form. With a few tweaks, you can use yours to create a more sustainable event.

You can do this by setting out the requirements for reducing or recycling single-use plastics, for stall holders and food and drink vendors attending your event. This could be a simple document with names and details, or a competitive application process.

If possible, gather together a team of people to discuss what can and can’t be removed from your event. You can also work together to identify the alternatives that will be required or provided by you as the organiser.

Many events start out small with their changes, thinking of one plastic waste item to swap out at the event. For example, if there’s a tap on-site, perhaps you don’t need vendors to sell water in plastic bottles.

Ensure an alternative is available. That could look like providing a water refill tap or station, reusable cups or bottles, or a washing stand to keep reusables in circulation. See our Reusables Card for more ideas.

Taking the next steps

To improve on your impact even further, think about the waste you’ll produce in each activity during your event. Ask yourself and your team, “what is the waste footprint if we do it this way?” The process can become fun and rewarding as you use your creativity in every step.

You may also want to consider stalls other than vendors. Many events have community groups come along too. Just be sure to ask these groups to choose to refuse single-use plastics.

To get you started, here’s a list of single-use plastic items to consider banning in your vendor application:

• • straws and stirrers
  • plastic cutlery
  • bottled water
  • plastic plates, bowls, cups, wine and champagne glasses
  • cling wrap
  • zip lock bags
  • plastic takeaway containers
  • mini condiments such as sauce and butter
  • bags (including plastic bin bags)
  • styrofoam and polystyrene
  • balloons
  • glitter

You may also want to include a rule that vendors can only sell pre approved items, and not give away freebies (which contribute to further waste).

The Impact

• Requiring vendors to avoid single-use plastic can result in huge reductions in the amount of waste produced at an event. This can save resources and reduce pressure on waste recycling systems.
• Reducing plastic can save time and money cleaning up litter at the end of an event.
• Many people find it a fun exercise to create or be part of a single-use plastic free event. It allows organisers and event participants to discover new alternatives to single-use plastics and live out their values.

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