Sustainable Suppliers for the Events Industry
Choosing sustainable suppliers can help the events industry reduce its environmental impact.
The choice of sustainable suppliers is increasingly crucial to achieving the events industry’s goal of hosting fully sustainable events. Selecting suppliers that focus on sustainability use eco-friendly materials, reduce waste, conserve energy, and promote social responsibility can help event professionals minimise the environmental impact of any event – large or small.
The careful selection of suppliers that promote sustainability can also provide a competitive advantage. Visitors and guests are more and more environmentally conscious themselves and more likely to choose events to attend that reflect their values. By choosing sustainable suppliers, event professionals can attract environmentally conscious consumers, enhance their brand reputation, and differentiate themselves from their competitors.
What should event professionals consider when selecting suppliers to optimise their event sustainability?
When selecting suppliers that promote sustainable practices, consider the following:
- Environmental impact: the environmental impact of suppliers is the most crucial factor to consider when selecting sustainable suppliers. Event professionals should look for suppliers that use sustainable materials, reduce waste, and conserve energy. For example, selecting a catering supplier that sources local and organic produce, uses compostable plates and utensils, and recycles waste can significantly reduce the environmental impact of an event.
- Certifications and accreditations: look for suppliers that have environmental certifications and accreditations, such as the ISO 14001 certification. These certifications indicate that the supplier has implemented environmental management systems that comply with recognised international standards.
- Social Responsibility: consider the social responsibility of suppliers, look for suppliers that promote fair labour practices, support local communities, and contribute to social causes.
- Reputation: research the reputation of suppliers before selecting them. Look for suppliers that have a proven track record of delivering sustainable products and services.
Four new (ish) sustainable suppliers for event professionals
These companies have been specifically created to help you deliver your events more sustainably:
- Event Cycle – take unwanted event material and give it a second life, repurposing and redistributing items to charities and community groups as well putting them back into the events industry. From graphics to giveaways, planks of wood to plants, they find a new home for them all. Their mission is to lead the events industry into a circular economy where landfill waste is reduced, and by doing so a social impact is made.
- You.Smart.Thing – host a travel demand management platform that generates personalised low-carbon travel plans that enhance visitor experience & increase revenues. Their ‘travel assistant’ can be tailored to enable organisations to offer content-enhanced wayfinding and low-carbon door-to-door travel plans that nudge visitors towards net-zero travel to events.
- Green Voltage – provide ‘green’ mobile power and support to the film, television, broadcast and live event industries. Created specifically to address the demand for environmentally conscious solutions, their emissions-free, silent, generators are available to hire or buy.
- event:decision – help event professionals measure the environmental impact of any event – both at the planning stage and after the event with track, the carbon footprint management tool.
To find out more about our carbon footprint and sustainability tool track, or to nominate a sustainable events supplier to be included in our list, please get in touch.
