Adopting Sustainable Practices During Weddings And Events

Weddings today are huge events that are likely to leave behind strong negative environmental and social impacts. So how are the wedding planners and event organisors tackling these issues? BhavneshSawhney Co-Founder & Director, FB Celebrations writes on how the event industry is adopting sustainable practices.

 

How is the event industry adopting sustainable practices

Recently, there has been a greater emphasis on sustainability across different industries and the world. Right from the government authorities to consumer groups all are worried about the impact of business actions on the environment. However, to understand its impact, first, we need to understand that sustainability is a ‘blanket’ word that encompasses multiple groups of related things, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) and Environment, Social & Governance Factors (“ESG’’). But oftentimes, the term gets confined to environmental factors only. Whereas if we go by the United Nation’s sustainability definition, social, governance and environment are the three pillars of the concept. Therefore, we need to understand our impact on our ecosystem as a whole and address it in a broader sense.

 

Impact as an industry

To begin with, the event industry involves environmental and social impacts on different levels, depending on the type of the event. Some of these can be explicit such as waste generated through the event life cycle or emissions created by visitors traveling to and from events, others can be more hidden, for example, the carbon emissions generated in the process. Plus, in some cases, a lack of management practices and policies leads to improper environmental and economic waste.

 

However, today many event managers are addressing the repercussions of its impact and are already practicing Sustainable Event Management. By assessing the connection between events, waste production and recycling behaviour, the event industry is on its journey of practising sustainability in every action. Along with avoiding the devastating effects on the environment and quality of life, which could cost the world at least 5% of GDP per year, the transition to a sustainable event not only help event organizations to be more cost-effective but also increasing its popularity among consumers as today’s consumers are eager to embrace sustainability in every format and demand it from legislators and companies alike.

 

Embracing accountability and change to reap sustainable growth opportunities

In the course of working towards decreasing waste and increasing energy efficiency, the event planners are rigorously partnering up with greener venues and green energy service providers, offering preselected meals, and so on. However, there isn’t just one method or one way in which sustainable event management can be practiced or achieved, depending on the nature of the event, event organizers are using many different methods to lessen their impact.

Organized Waste Management

By adopting coordinated waste management practices the event industry is avoiding much of the unnecessary waste generated which includes food, water and electricity consumption. The objective behind this is to send no waste to the landfill and call for prior communication on emphasizing the need to use recyclable materials.

Partnering up with Eco-Friendly Businesses and Organizations

In attaining sustainability in event management – collaboration is the key. Teaming up with eco-friendly businesses and organizations can help event organizers with their sustainability efforts. As with sustainability activities such as reusing materials, serving food with compostable plates and utensils and coordinating waste disposal, the event managers may not have the experience, expertise, or bandwidth. Hence, by partnering up with organizations that have the relevant knowledge and capability to help tackle the problem the event industry is adopting sustainable practices at scale.

 

Conservation of energy before, during and after the event

To combat their environmental impact, the event organizers are using carbon-neutral energy and solar-energy methods. An Energy Management Plan that is centred around efficiency and renewable energy can improve energy efficiency, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and achieve operational outcomes for events.

Future of Sustainable Event Management

Today, sustainability is not just a throw-away trend and embracing it will only become more popular. The CGS 2022 Retail and Sustainability survey shows how much consumers are demanding that companies and legislators embrace sustainability which means the need for sustainable events will only increase. As today, sustainability isn’t just confined to “green statements” but it is about real, lasting change.

This article is authored by Bhavnesh Sawhney Co-Founder & Director, FB Celebrations. The images are shared by him.