Imagine you’re attending an event. You just finished a delicious small plate and a cocktail, and you’re ready to move into the next room for some great entertainment.
You spot a recycling station and head there to dispose of your waste. When you arrive, you read the sign and frown. You can recycle your cup here, but the sign asks you to compost your plate and napkin.
Looking around, you see a compost bin across the room. You also spot an important client who appears to be slowly making their way toward the exit. You need to speak with them before they leave!
With one last helpless glance at the distant compost bin, you toss all of your waste in the recycling bin and head over to connect with your client.
In this example, the guest obviously contributes to contamination in the recycling bin. But who is really to blame?
Meetings and events are where face-to-face business happens. Guests are focused on accomplishing their goals for the event, so you can’t blame them for being distracted from details like separating waste.
As event professionals, our job is to facilitate the personal connections our guests want to make. That means if we’re also aiming to divert waste, we need to make the process as easy as possible for attendees.
The best way to make waste sorting easy for guests is to place bins in groups called “zero waste stations.”
Zero waste stations contain a separate bin for each waste stream you are collecting at your event. A typical zero waste station contains a recycling bin, a compost bin, and a trash bin.
Grouping bins together makes it easy for guests to dispose of everything they have in their hands at one time.
Any waste bin that stands by itself automatically becomes a trash bin, regardless of the sign you may put on it. As we saw in our example, guests are often in a hurry and don’t have time to walk to separate areas to dispose of different types of waste. Standalone bins end up being filled with a mixture of every type of waste, simply out of convenience.
Zero waste stations also make it obvious that a waste separation program is in place. If the bins are isolated, attendees may not even realize the event is attempting to separate waste.
By grouping waste bins into zero waste stations, you not only make waste sorting more convenient for your guests, but you enable them to quickly move on and pursue their real reasons for attending the event.
Get zero waste stations for your next event. As part of my green event services, I provide clean, attractive bins for easily and effectively separating waste.