The concept of sustainable business events is increasingly taking centre stage globally as people push the events industry to do its part in preserving and keeping the environment clean as they go about their business.
One area where the local events industry is found wanting is the disposal of the waste which is generated during business events such as exhibitions and roadshows among others. Business Events (BE) interviewed Harare-based waste recycling entrepreneur, Helen Davidson (HD) who painted a gloomy picture of event organisers’ attitude towards the environmental impact of some of their events. Davidson recently came up with a special cardboard bin for functions and events which she aptly named a Function Bin. Here is the full interview.
BE: How and when was Function Bins established?
HD: Function Bins was started informally about 3 years ago as a service that complimented my core business which is that of collecting garbage and recycling from homes and businesses. I attended a function and wondered what happened to all the waste and was horrified to hear that there was no plan for this waste further than the fact that the Municipal collections may take care of it.
I had a flyer designed which I posted onto my Facebook page and we were off! I think that within the first three months, we had four really big events to manage – Arlington International Horse Trials, which attracted over 1000 visitors and was held over three days; The Annual Garden Show which also attracted a few thousand visitors and was held over three days; the Spar Colour Run which, if I remember correctly, attracted 5000 participants and then Neverland, the music festival, held annually and also over three days.
We managed all of the waste for the first three events from the placement of the bins around the event area, to the supply of staff to maintain the bins and pick up any waste that was left on tables and lying around, to the removal of the waste after the function.
At the Neverland music festival, we were asked to only remove the waste at the end of the function.
BE: What has the response from event organisers been so far?
HD: In a word, disappointing. With the exception of the above-mentioned events (which I have continued to manage annually since then) and also including Wild Geese’s hosting of Johnny Clegg’s concert and The Eatout Movement’s CEO’s Eatout for two years now, I have found the response from organizers to be ‘It’s not really my problem’ which then leaves all the waste for the venue owners to try to dispose of through hiring private garbage collectors (like myself) or relying on Municipal collections.
Many times, organisers phone a day or two before a function and then say that the service is too expensive. Waste management often ends up being an 11th-hour decision. By then, the budget is spent and any added expenditure is now eating into (organisers’) profits. So, the decision is made not to worry about waste. I have literally had people phone me up on a Sunday morning and say that they had a function the night before and there is a whole pile of garbage and how much would I charge to remove it!
BE: How do you charge for your services?
HD: I try to tailor-make the service to suit the organiser’s specific requirements. I charge per ‘Waste Monitor’ who will move around the designated area/s collecting rubbish and making sure the bins are neat and tidy; per bin hired/used during a function; and the removal of waste after the function. All these services can be structured according to the size of the venue, the number of expected guests, whether it is a day or night function. The sorting, weighing and reporting of the waste generated at a function is a free service.
BE: After collecting litter at events how do you process or dispose of it?
HD: All the waste is taken back to my yard for separation and sorting and weighing. All recycling (material) is kept at the yard to undergo further sorting and then onward sale to recyclers. The garbage is taken to the Pomona (municipal) dumpsite.
BE: How important is it for event organisers to arrange for the proper collection and disposal of the litter generated during their events?
HD: Obviously, I think that this is vital. Imagine that you rent your venue out to an organizer for a function. If you are not careful and depending on the size and description of the event, you could be left with a tonne or more of garbage that may or may not be in bags and that you now have to dispose of. The municipal truck, if it comes, will refuse to take it all saying that it is too much for one property.
As I said earlier, what now? Do you take it to the dump yourself, or do you hire a private company to do it? Both options eat into the profit that you made from hiring your venue in the first place and also add an irritation factor which may prompt you to decide that it is not worth the effort to hire out your venue!
BE: In your view, are event organisers doing enough to ensure that their events are sufficiently green?
HD: No. They are usually quite content to leave this for the venue owner to deal with. At best, the organiser may arrange for after event waste removal, but this is rare and is then usually sub-contracted out to unregistered waste removers or worse, casual truck drivers who may or may not take it all to the dump.
BE: Apart from the litter aspect, what else do you think events stakeholders can do in order for their events to be sustainably environment-friendly?
HD: I think that it is important for all stakeholders to realize that waste does not go away for free. There is a significant cost involved, particularly if all recyclables are to be harvested before the remainder goes to the dump. Venue owners need to know that they would be perfectly within their rights to be able to insist that the organiser manages the waste in a legal manner. Organizers should plan for the management of waste right from the beginning and so be able to budget for this expense.
The separation and reporting of waste for these types of events is, in my view, essential. The availability of data on weights and types of waste enables event organisers and venue holders to make informed decisions on many aspects of the function. For example, making the decision to use single use plastics or reusable/compostable utensils/plates and glassware.
Into the future, this data or just the fact that an event organiser manages their waste in a sustainable manner may well empower the public to decide on whether to attend a function or not, based on their environmental responsibility. We should be able to receive some sort of recognition for holding ‘green’ functions – be it tax credits (shock and horror!) or at least the ‘pat on the back’ for ‘doing the right thing’…
BE: What is your message to events stakeholders and other people about caring for the environment?
HD: There will come a time in the not too distant future when there will be penalties for the disposal of waste. We will find that it will be much more expensive to dump our waste and it will pay to reduce the amount that goes to the dump by removing the recyclable streams. So the sooner organisers make the move over to separation of recycling to reduce the amount that goes to the dump the better.
It is far better to send the waste to be recycled rather than dumping it.