Reduce Your Footprint - Group/Event Director


Moving toward a more sustainable event in Whatcom County

 

Recycling 

Most event materials are recyclable, and the few that are not can be minimized or eliminated with good planning.
 

Compostables

FoodPlus!  event recycling is available throughout much of Whatcom County.  Included are ALL food scraps (prep, too), food-soiled paper (plates, cups, napkins, etc), floral waste (if any), and Biodegradable plastics (cups, utensils, etc). $10 per 60-gal Toter, which is good for about 100-125 people for a meal and reception. “Festival-style" toters include a hole in the lid for hands free recycling.   Sanitary Service Company (734-3490, ssc@ssc-inc.com) delivers to your location (surcharge for areas south of Lk. Samish or beyond Glacier).

 

Bottles/Cans     

In this category are all plastic bottles, plastic cups and trays, tubs, cans of all types, and glass bottles. Sanitary Service Company's 90-gal “Festival” Toters hold about 200-225 bottles/cans, with a simple hole in the lid for containers. If you’ll have wine bottles, figure about one toter per 75-80 bottles. Lids are ok (real corks go in the FoodPlus!). Toters are $12 each, delivered to your event (past Glacier or Lake Samish is a surcharge).  Nooksack Valley Disposal (354-3400) offers similar service for the Lynden area.

 

Cardboard

You'll be surprised how much cardboard even a small event with food generates.  There are free drop-off opportunities, including at NW Recycling, D & Astor Streets in Bellingham's Old Town, and both SSC (734-3490) and Nooksack Valley Disposal (354-3400) can deliver temporary recycling bins for cardboard to your event.

 

Plastic Film

Events with disposable tarps, banners, and plastic bags should recycle these items through SSC (734-3490) or Nooksack Valley Disposal (354-3400).

 

Vendors    

Locally grown food is another way to reduce waste from your event. Sustainable Connections below has a special program that supports locally grown food, and many area grocery stores stock local produce and meat. Ask your caterer to work with you on this.
 
Encourage or require vendors to only use recyclable or compostable items and packaging.  Walk them through your recycling plan so they know what materials go where.
 
Local suppliers now carry biodegradable utensils at virtually identical cost with throwaway utensils.  Check the Food Co-op, Cash N Carry, and others.
 

Waste Reduction

Recycling is important, but avoiding waste in the first place saves on resources, and the money you'd have spent on recycling in some cases.  Consider some of the following to reduce waste:
  • online invitations, registration, and RSVP’s
  • buy local for wedding registries (www.sconnect.org)
  • carpool to and from the event
  • design and buy durable banners that can be reused year after year(use velcro to attach each year's dates to the banner)
  • borrow or rent equipment instead of buying new - for example, Bellingham Parks & Recreation is able to lend certain items to community events
  • entry discount if you bring your own water bottle
  • eliminate bottled water in favor of water jugs and compostable paper cups
  • eliminate "goodie bags" in favor of emailing sponsor coupons to participants, and a table of giveaways at the finish - those who don't want them don't end up with a bag of stuff to dispose of at home.

Transportation 

Some of the largest impacts of any event or group outing are simply from participants getting to and from the event.  Walking lightly on trails is great, but if every person drives a 3,000 pound car to the trailhead, you're missing opportunities to reduce your footprint on the environment and the community.

Here are some strategies to try:

  • choose transit friendly event locations (www.ridewta.com) and see our table of WTA-trail connections (insert link)
  • share alternative transportation info with participants
  • help support carpools with an online message board, etc
  • incentives for carpooling - prize certificates, special drawing, etc
  • organize bus shuttles for the event
  • provide secure bike corral or appropriate bike racks
  • preferred parking for carpools

Pay It Forward

People are often eager to make a real difference, besides just having fun or recreating in the community.  Give them the chance, and many will jump at it - the 2009 Ski To Sea voluntary Green Fee was selected by over half this year's participants!  The funds raised, over $2,000, were given to four local groups who support education and action around conserving and caring for our natural heritage, from the Whatcom Land Trust to the Girl Scouts and RE Sources for Sustainable Communities.  Your event or group outing could support similar efforts.

  • participants donate non-perishable food as entry or part of entry fee
  • donate coats/hats/gloves to charity for winter event
  • offer or require “green” fee that goes to various groups for their work
  • educate the larger community on what you’re doing to make your event more sustainable
  • advertising that notes “green” event features
  • link volunteer activity to your event - trail work, planting, beach clean-up, etc.
  • encourage business sponsors to support your goals - for example, Bellingham bicycle shops regularly sponsor work parties on local bike trails, providing food and drinks to volunteers, as well as free event advertising that non-profits couldn't afford to buy

Volunteers

 Effectively recruiting and training volunteers can be the difference in success or failure for your efforts at waste reduction and sustainability.  Realize first that some people will volunteer specifically BECAUSE your event strives for sustainability.  Use their passion!  Second, make sure you have clear goals and objectives, so volunteers feel their time was well spent, and so you can measure success.

  • Help volunteers carpool and reduce waste
  • Train volunteers to help educate about event recycling & staff recycling stations - NOTHING substitutes for a human being with good information.  Weigh your recycling and trash to track progress.
  • Link volunteers to other opportunities for participation and training
  • Recognize volunteers with locally produced gifts or gifts certificates

Finding the GREEN to Go Green

There are four sponsorship opportunities that we typically recommend:
Carbon Neutral Sponsorship – a sponsor covers part or all of the cost of offsetting the tonnage of CO2 produced by the event. The sponsor could cover the total emissions from athlete travel plus the expo and event operations. Or a more modest coverage of the power requirements to operate the race and band trailers. More about carbon offsets
Reusable Goodie Bag sponsorship – branding rights for a reusable good bags. Could be more than one sponsor.
Compostable Aid Station Cups – one sponsor covers the cost of purchasing the compostable aid station cups for branding rights. GreenisGreenInc.com can provide PLA cups for $0.05/cup – which is your best option. However, Solo can provide compostable cups too but they are wax. See the attached.
Recycling Centers – The signage for the recycling station is a sponsorship opportunity. It could be onesponsor or a few: one for the start, one for the aid stations, one for the finish area.