EVENT GREENING FORUM

Reflecting on lessons from Covid-19

Amongst the industries hardest hit by Covid-19 has been the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) sector. Twenty-four months ago, this was an industry on the up; exhibitions every week, South Africa attracting some big events like Meetings Africa 2020 – held in February just before lockdown.

By Gavin Heron, Earth Probiotic.

While taking conferences onto Zoom has helped recently, the companies that manufacture stands, produce food, transport delegates, accommodate attendees, provide security, provide cleaning services, source gifts, print brochures, etc. are, to all intents and purposes, struggling to survive.

Covid-19 was beneficial for couriers, home improvement suppliers, online shopping and services, but for the events industry, there has been no upside from Covid-19, only lost income and jobs.

Even during normal times, the event industry operates on very tight timelines and deadlines. One is either pitching for business; transporting material for an event; building an event or striking the event. Seven days a week. 24/7.

For anyone in the events industry, time is a luxury.

So, what are we to do when time is no longer a luxury but an unwanted surplus?

The Event Greening Forum’s (EGF) objective is to promote sustainable, environmentally positive events. Now that there is time to reflect, we may take lessons from Covid-19, which may be positively applied when – vaccinations permitting –the industry may get back to some sense of normalcy.

Putting sustainability at the centre of your future strategy is not only about “Yo! Check out how Green I am!” It’s a strategy which may reduce supply chain vulnerability, minimise regulatory risks, save costs, and raise your business to ‘preferred vendor’ status.

Minimising food wastage is not only good for the environment, it has a positive ROI in most cases.

Redesign your products to minimise supply chains

The pandemic taught us that supply chain disruptions have a significant negative impact on our businesses. Suddenly, products that depended on key components from afar – such as China (or elsewhere), were either unobtainable from our usual suppliers or worse, not manufactured at all locally.

So, how do you redesign your exhibition solution to make it simpler, quicker to manufacture, quicker to assemble, less wasteful?

Are you able to up-cycle waste materials and save costs? Where may you find these materials? Bodies which are very helpful in connecting waste producers to waste upcyclers are organisations that have Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes1 .

Buy Local

The EGF is dedicated to supporting the local economy through sustainable business practices. The Forum’s Green Data Base2 is a directory of environmentally friendly and socially responsible suppliers.

Supporting these companies not only reduces local unemployment by creating work opportunities and keeping suppliers in business, but also shortens your supply chain and minimises the impacts associated with transport.

The other benefit of using local suppliers is that – and we all need to be cognisant of this – your business actively minimises supply chain CO2e emissions (a nail from China impacts the environment more than one from Germiston).

Think Green, Think CO2e Minimisation

Putting CO2e minimisation at the core of how you approach business leads to a less wasteful, more efficient operation.

Every single physical thing we manufacture or buy has a CO2e footprint. So how may you think about producing less stuff?

How do you only hand out marketing material to people who are actively engaged in what you do? How may you provide more information electronically? Is another branded flash drive or redesigned brochure necessary?

Most important though, is how may you design your event space for reuse? Could your event space be reused and/or repurposed and simply be moved from event to event? Think Ikea (but without the husband-and-wife assembly fights).

Food and beverage associated with events has a massive CO2e footprint. The CO2e footprint of food, for example, is 4,000kg/tonne3. And then there are the omnipresent own-branded plastic bottles which also, in spite of recycling efforts, end up being trashed.

Minimising food wastage is not only good for the environment, it has a positive ROI in most cases4. Active food waste management includes:

• Buying from local suppliers, as the more distance a tomato, for example, travels, the higher the portion of spoilt produce and a greater carbon footprint.

• Keeping produce in their ‘skins’ extends their shelf-life and encourages kitchens to only use what they need at the time when it’s needed. This is particularly true for prepackages, trimmed vegetables and produce.

• Cook well! Nothing produces more wastage than bad food.

• If over-production is unavoidable or accidental, donate surplus food to food banks. Connect with a food bank service prior to the exhibition (they must also manage their logistics).

• Make stock from unused food for future use! In the ‘old’ days, a stockpot was perhaps the most important part of any commercial kitchen. Today, it’s easier (some say) to simply buy premade stock.

• When you do have waste, don’t just dump it. Companies like Earth Probiotic are able to provide onsite food waste recycling services to food service companies.

• Measure what you waste. Not only does this provide important input into your future catering strategy, it will also measure the impact of recycling vs. landfilling in terms of CO2e reduction.

• As a final thought, one further impact that the industry had been minimising effectively prior to Covid, was a move away from single-serve items. But this has effectively been reversed largely due to rumour and ignorance (some even say poor management) by event organisers and venues. Single-serve items range from ‘crockery’ and ‘cutlery’ to non-recyclable packaging, coverings and containers – not to mention the ubiquitous PPE and medical waste created by Covid.

Covid-19 has been a disaster for the events industry. Hopefully, with a wellexecuted vaccination rollout programme, the industry will come out on the other side stronger and hopefully, more resilient. A fresh, green and sustainability-oriented approach may positively contribute to the revitalisation of this key and impactful business.

1. https://prevent-waste.net/wp-content/ uploads/2020/09/South-Africa.pdf

2. https://www.greendatabase.co.za/

3. Source: DEFRA UK

4. https://www.earthprobiotic.co.za/Earth_Probiotic_Blog/?post=the-business-case-forreducing-food-waste#poster-top

About the EGF

The Event Greening Forum (EGF) is a non-profit organisation that promotes sustainability within the business events sector. It does this by hosting educational sessions for industry and lobbying government in an effort to implement sustainability principles into the daily operations of the events industry. The EGF was established through dedication and support of eight industry associations who are recognised as founding members. The founding members are key industry associations working together to promote South Africa as a destination for various types of events.

Want to know more?

If you would like to know more about event greening, visit wwweventgreening.co.za where you can browse the free resources, sign up to the monthly newsletter, or contact them directly with any queries.

Contact: Lynn Mcleod

T: 082 891 5883

E: lynn@eventgreening.co.za