With the End of the Year celebrations approaching, let’s explore a few tips to minimise waste in events and achieve the highest recycling rate.

Before the event

Good planning is the best prevention tool.

• Food: select a caterer which can adjust the quantity of food based on the expected attendance to minimise food wastage.
• Brochures and banners: if using banners and brochures, make sure they are not dated so they can be reused for a future event.
• Goodies: work with the participating companies to minimise disposable goodies. Ideally, you can set a rule to accept only reusable or recyclable goodies. Contact Label for Recycling to know if the packaging is recyclable.
• Plates and cutleries: in collaboration with the caterer, use only reusable and washable utensils. You can also inform attendees that they must bring their own glass/cup/plate… or they will be charged an extra.

During the event

The segregation of waste is your priority.

• Recycling bins: make sure that waste stations are available and include at a minimum a general waste bin and a mixed-recyclable bin. A third bin can be used for organic waste.
• Signage: make sure that the bins are clearly labels and a sign indicates how the most common items must be disposed of.
• Waste station team: organise a team to supervise the waste stations. Even with clear signage, people will still not recycle right resulting in contamination of the recyclables. To avoid this from happening, engage volunteers to supervise the waste stations and guide individuals on how to recycle right. There are local organisations that can commit people to help you with this, in exchange for promoting their work.

After the event

Food leftovers are often the most critical item.

• Prior to the event, contact organisations that could collect and use the unpacked food instead of throwing it away. Organisations such as FoodBank and Food Rescue can help you.
• And for the food scraps that cannot be given away, contact someone to collect the food scraps to do compost.

Above all, enjoy these End of the Year’s celebrations but, be reminded that we must do our part to minimise waste and such events can be a chance to showcase to everyone how we could take action in saving our planet.