As H&E North looks at the industry’s supply chain. Anna Abdelnoor, Co-founder of not-for-profit event sustainability group ISLA, explores how planners and suppliers can do their bit for a sustainable future.
The narrative around a greener future is becoming increasingly noisy across the event industry. Businesses that were once paying lip service to this pre-pandemic, are now acting so they can consistently deliver against brand objectives and cater to evolving consumer desires.
Event suppliers are the backbone of the industry – without their services events simply wouldn’t exist. They play a fundamental role in driving innovation both through the physical offering and their operations. As experts in their fields there is an opportunity to flip the brief by guiding agencies and brands towards sustainable alternatives whether that’s through sourced materials, energy saving solutions, or emission reduction planning and waste management systems. Working collaboratively with clients to adopt a better approach to sustainable event delivery will increase demand for alternative solutions to allow event suppliers to innovate and invest in new infrastructures.
With the increased pressure to measure the impact of events on the planet, suppliers that are getting ahead by implementing company-wide reduction targets and documenting these in environmental policies and event plans can share these with clients during procurement and win business.
Earlier this year ISLA launched proseed – the universal best practice framework for sustainable event delivery. Designed with the whole supply chain in mind, it’s a free, accessible and practical resource aiming to standardise how the event industry approaches sustainability. Event suppliers can use this framework to benchmark
operational practices such as energy auditing premises, assessing annual travel and transport emissions, or identifying and reporting on waste streams on-site. These actions demonstrate to clients exactly how they are practising sustainability.
Transitioning to a greener future provides opportunities for event suppliers across the entire sector to upskill, innovate and collaborate delivering even more value to clients and, importantly, to their own organisations too.
Here are three practical steps you can take as suppliers to play your part in the fight against the climate crisis…
Circular design
Look at what’s coming up in the calendar. Is there more than one event that could use the same set design or material components? Understanding how and where components can be reused means these don’t end up in landfill and save on resources, which is both an environmental and economic saving. Spend some time with your supply chain and (storage unit!) in the early design stages to ascertain what could be reused or refurbished before opting for virgin materials as first point of call.
Lighting and digital solutions
Designers, AV suppliers and set builders have an opportunity to offer creative solutions for environmental designs that use clever lighting combined with digital solutions to reduce single use graphic items. Remember to consider energy usage. This can often save money in production and also in waste charges. Plus, creative designs are a talking point for guests.
Efficient loading
Reduce the need for transport by reducing the need for space. A few tips include designing sets so they can be flat-packed, using stackable boxes for smaller items to reduce bulky or awkward loads, and using what you can from within a venue to eliminate transport.
If you’d like to learn more about how ISLA is supporting event suppliers, go to Weareisla. co.uk
