HOW TO MAKE YOUR EVENT MORE SUSTAINABLE WITH ECO-FRIENDLY CREDENTIAL SOLUTIONS

Sustainability is a important topic when it comes to events, plastic bottles and more. Today, there are more choices than ever for sourcing more ethical, local, and sustainable options. From reusable water filling stations to cashless transactions, there are a lot of choices that can be made to not only lower your environmental impact, but to make a meaningful difference when it comes to day-to-day operations.

After all, the big decisions matter, but it’s the small ones that can really add up. In this article, we’ll be covering simple swaps you can make right now when it comes to simple things like eco-friendly ticketing, RFID transactions, and more.

SUSTAINABILITY & EVENTS

Sustainability and our environmental impact is something every event, organizer, and attendee should care about. With festivals and conventions only growing, there’s no doubt their footprint is huge and that a few strategic changes can make a big difference. That said, even if you aren’t running a huge, multi-day event, the choices you make can still move the needle in the right direction. After all, being more sustainable is a value-point most consumers not only care about, but expect. So how can you make your event more green?

HOW TO MAKE MORE SUSTAINABLE CHOICES

#1. Know Your Consumer

Conscious consumerism is standard among millennials and gen-z, meaning their starting point is one that takes into consideration environmental friendly choices, materials, and opportunities. From supply chain transparency to vendor sourcing, your chance to make choices that convert your customers are everywhere.

#2. Get Personal

By knowing what your attendees do and do not want, you’re able to make choices when it comes to operations, sourcing, staffing, etc. that reflect their values and, more often than not, save you money when it comes to unused items, wasted food, etc.

#3. Set Goals

By working with green consultants, you can make choices all the way from banking with green banks to cashless systems that save on receipts, to printing credentials made with PET plastics. The reality is, however, you can’t do everything. That’s why it’s crucial you set clear and reachable goals that not only make a difference, but make it possible for you to keep moving in the right direction.

#4. Know Your Impact

By gathering data about your event and attendees, you can accurately track things like travel, food and beverage, venue, accommodation, and hard goods, and more to properly estimate your total environmental impact.

By knowing these numbers, you not only have a starting point for improving in coming years, but you have the opportunity to offset your actual carbon footprint, not a grossly over or underestimated amount.

#5. Choose a Green Venue

You’re going to make reaching your sustainability goals a lot easier if you start with one of your biggest factors first: Where. Depending on where your event is held, a lot of your sustainability goals may already be met through things the site already does.

In fact, they may have done most of the legwork for you, knowing vendors, sourcing local, using green energy, etc. If you’re interested, you can ask your venue if they’re certified for sustainable events through ISO.

Even without certification, most venues can (and should) have a number of initiatives in place. This helps you minimize waste, reduce your emissions, manage recycling, reduce travel from vendors, and more.

When you’re looking for a venue, we recommend considering a central location that makes travel to and from easy. This eliminates the need for rental cars, additional accommodations, flights and the like. Instead, attendees can take advantage of public transit or they can walk or bicycle to the event. It’s also important to make sure there is enough lodging on or near your site. This makes it possible for guests to attend without significant travel distance or time between sessions or days.

#6. Ditch Single-Use Plastic

Not only are single-use plastics controversial for their waste, but a lot of local governments and officials have severely restricted or banned single-use plastics across the country. An easy solution is to source bamboo or recycled plastic utensils, cups, plates, and to-go containers. We also recommend encouraging guests to bring reusable bottles so they can refill at centrally located (and branded) water stations.

#7. Encourage Carpooling

Messaging is important and attendees listen. If you can encourage carpooling, public transit, or even shuttle services, you can greatly cut down on your collective environmental impact before guests even arrive.

#8. Opt Out of Giveaways

Everyone loves a little swag, but is it necessary? For large-scale events, try to use environmentally friendly options for guest takeaways. Think: Seed packets, tote bags, bamboo cutlery kits, tumblers, and more.

#9. Go Digital. Ditch Print.

With RFID technology as an option, there’s no need to waste paper (and time) with receipts, paper transactions, and ancient methods. Instead, use your website to get the word out rather than printing pamphlets; use RFID enhanced wristbands to track attendance, make transactions, and more. Integrate their RFID tag into a web-based app experience that gives them digital media kits, provides them with quick and relevant information (like maps and show times), and sends personalized surveys and follow-ups instead of direct mail. It all saves money, time, and the environment.

Even better? You get higher engagement because the hurtle of entry is so much lower.

#10. Opt for PET Wristbands and Lanyards

Materials matter. Our sustainable wristbands and lanyards are made from recycled bottles that are collected from our oceans. Cleaning up the Earth has never been so cool with our fully customizable lanyards and wristbands, guaranteeing your event looks as good as it can.

As with most things, greening your event and having a positive environmental impact comes down to choice. Knowing you have to do certain things no matter what (like ticketing, transactions and crowd control) means you have the opportunity to make everyday decisions that can have a meaningful impact. From materials to finding creative ways to cut down on unnecessary waste, we can take advantage of technology to create seamless, easy, and efficient solutions that make a difference.

To learn more about easy choices you can make when it comes to greening your event, feel free to get in touch with one of our sales reps at [email protected].