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Most large events have the tendency of leaving behind a lot of waste, littered by the attendees. Every few weeks, the news is reporting of an event leaving behind truckloads of waste products in its wake. Most of the times, it is not the fault of the people attending the event, instead, the waste management plan for the event is not given enough importance by the organisers.
If you are about to hold a corporate event for your business, you do not want the bad rep of leaving behind heaps of waste. Even if you are involved in a personal function like a marriage, or a barbeque party, an effective waste management plan always works wonders in terms of reduced trash and better and efficient disposal of waste. And let’s face it, it feels really good when we contribute to mother nature. For those of you who think like me, here is how you can efficiently segregate, manage, and dispose all the waste generated at your event:
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Have a well-thought out plan in place
This means having everyone involved in the event on-board, assigning everyone individual roles and responsibilities, each with a different approach to manage waste. If it is a corporate event, getting the sponsors and other partners involved in the event on-board with the aim of reducing and efficiently managing the waste produced.
2. Provide adequate infrastructure
This means having bins placed at several locations throughout the event premises. A recent survey conducted for music festivals revealed that a high percentage of people would appreciate having separate bins for recyclable and non-recyclable materials.
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For places you expect the density of the crowd, or the waste would be higher, a skip bin hire would prove very efficient. You can apply the same principle of segregation of recyclable and non-recyclable wastes by assigning separate bins to each.
Educate and inform the attendees
This part is elemental for your waste management plan to work. Everyone involved in the event, the crew, even the event management company’s (if you have hired one) employees involved with your event should constantly encourage and remind people to use the bins to dispose different kinds of waste.
Make sure different bins are properly labeled to avoid any confusion. If you are using coloured bins, make sure the colour for each category is consistent at all locations throughout the event. It is advisable to clearly label the bins, even after having coloured bins. In places where people from the crew are not available, put up boards encouraging people to use the bins and discouraging littering on the ground and other places.
Evaluate
After the event, it is very important to evaluate the performance and efficiency of your waste management plan to make improvements in the future. Doing so consistently is the key for consistent success. A lot of these evaluations are going to help you come up with fresh ideas that you can add to your waste management and waste reductions plans in the future.
Conclusion
Irresponsible management of waste has late become a serious environmental issue. Almost 100,000 birds, whales, seals, and turtles are killed every year due to irresponsible disposition of wastes, especially plastic waste. It is high time we understood our responsibility, and start doing our part to help restore mother nature to her former glory.