Everyday, you see more and more companies taking steps toward sustainability to help the environment, such as restaurants reducing their use of straws or stores switching to reusable bags. A small difference can make a huge impact so why not practice these efforts in the events we produce? Here are some quick tips to make your next event more environmentally friendly.

Choose a More Sustainable Venue

A great way to reduce travel and minimize the carbon foot print is to host your event at the same venue your attendees are staying. If your client doesn’t want a ballroom/hotel setting, then try to choose an eco-friendly venue that uses cleaner energy sources or recycles. Being more conscious about the venue you choose and reducing the need for your attendees to travel from multiple locations benefits the environment and makes it easier for your attendees to get around.

Go Paperless

Utilizing an event app, event page or email newsletters, can help reduce the use of paper while keeping all of your event information updated in real time. Within these tools, you can use them for online registration and check-in, your event schedule and any other information that would need to be distributed pre-event, during and post-event. This will also save you money because you wont have to reprint documents each day.

Food and Beverage

According to meetgreen.com, the average conference attendee produces around 4lbs of waste per day. Crazy, right? Food and beverage takes up a lot of this statistic. Choose a buffet style menu and donate your leftover trays to a local charity. Use real china and do away with paper and plastic. Look into biodegradable coffee cups or hand out plastic water bottles with water fill stations so attendees aren’t using as many plastic water bottles.

Recycle, Recycle, Recycle

Make sure you are providing recycling bins next to your garbage bins so your attendees will be more conscious of what they are throwing away. Recycling starts with cups and paper but you can also recycle other items during your event. Ask your attendees to return their lanyards and badges to be reused for next year. Also, think about ways to make your signage reusable as well and not catered to a specific year.

By making these small changes for each event, the long term outcome can be beneficial for our planet and also your attendees! Visit www.earthday.org for more information on how you can get more involved in Earth Day events.