Have you heard of the “R’s of Sustainability”? The most common are “REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, and RECYCLE”. On this month’s #MeetGreenChat we delved into each of those and more! The discussions around the R’s were very interesting and informative. Lot’s to think about when you are trying to do your best with sustainability at home, work, or events. A few of the highlighted discussions are below for you to learn from.
Have you heard of the R’s of Sustainability?
A1 How about REcharging your cell phone with pedal power #meetgreenchat pic.twitter.com/T9fupIkMpi
— nancyjzavada (@nancyjzavada) October 7, 2020
A1: The many "R's of sustainability" are a big part of how we think and frame our work. We use them daily and they remain very applicable in both physical and virtual event settings : )) #MeetGreenChat
— Eric Wallinger (@EricWallinger) October 7, 2020
RETHINK, REIMAGINE, REFUSE, REDUCE, REPAIR, REGIFT, RECOVER, RECYCLE, REUSE, REPURPOSE, REDESIGN, & REGENERATE are the R’s we’ve come up with. Which of these are your favorites?
Reduce, reuse, recycle but there maybe more. #MeetGreenChat
— Conference Care Package (@Confcarepackage) October 7, 2020
A2 I love 'refuse' (something you or your group doesn't need) and 'reimagine' (what you can do without or re-use). #MeetGreenChat
— Della Green (@MeetGreenDella) October 7, 2020
Q2b. Not surprisingly, I like Regift! #MeetGreenChat
— Unwrapit (@Unwrapit_) October 7, 2020
What is an example of what you have done in your event to REFUSE?
A3: We refused plastic containers for use in a large food-court in a convention-style event in Las Vegas. These were billed as a "recyclable" option, but it simply was too much plastic to be viable under the client and our sustainability vision #MeetGreenChat
— Eric Wallinger (@EricWallinger) October 7, 2020
A3. Event organizers are definitely refusing to give out unnecessary stuff, like printed programs, plastic name badges, printed session evaluation forms. #MeetGreenChat
— Unwrapit (@Unwrapit_) October 7, 2020
What is one thing in your event you have done to REPURPOSE?
A4: One very creative example of re-purposing at an event was collecting non-reinforced Visqueen- those large rolls/strips of plastic protecting carpet during move-in, and donating to a local bird sanctuary to keep cages warm at night. #MeetGreenChat
— Eric Wallinger (@EricWallinger) October 7, 2020
A4 there is a woman's collaborative in Canada that makes conference bags from the banners of last year's conference. The name is escaping me… #MeetGreenChat
— Conference Care Package (@Confcarepackage) October 7, 2020
Q4: Signage that we were unable to reuse was donated to a local theater company to be Repurposed into staging! #meetgreenchat
— Aaron Elliott (@MeetGreen_Aaron) October 7, 2020
What are some examples of including RECYCLING in your event?
A5 Close the loop by buying recycled products. #meetgreenchat pic.twitter.com/asZhVgs74k
— nancyjzavada (@nancyjzavada) October 7, 2020
A5. Another Toronto innovation is The Love Collective… instant recycling (and cost savings) by holding multiple weddings in the same venue, using the same materials on the same day! https://t.co/SibWzVAaPt #MeetGreenChat
— Unwrapit (@Unwrapit_) October 7, 2020
What is one thing you have done at your event to RETHINK?
A6: ReThink! One of my favorites. In an effort to reduce post-event waste, a large build was re-designed to take advantage of stock sized rental materials. This cut the overall build emissions by 37%! #MeetGreenChat
— Aaron Elliott (@MeetGreen_Aaron) October 7, 2020
A6 Rethinking on-site sponsorship and transitioning to at-home sponsorship. All this thinking hurts my brain but I do love the challenge. #MeetGreenChat
— Conference Care Package (@Confcarepackage) October 7, 2020
What can you REUSE at an event?
A7 Collecting badge holders at the end of the event to use for next year. #MeetGreenChat
— Conference Care Package (@Confcarepackage) October 7, 2020
A7: Reusable service ware is one area I feel particularly passionate about. For our events industry, this is a great place to support and endorse reuse! : )) #MeetGreenChat
— Eric Wallinger (@EricWallinger) October 7, 2020
A7 One of my favorite event re-use strategies is to encourage people to bring their own water bottle from home. This way, they can start using it at the airport so plastic is saved from the moment event travel begins. #MeetGreenChat
— Della Green (@MeetGreenDella) October 7, 2020
How can you REDUCE at an event?
A8: There are so many things we can reduce at our events: depending on our goals, two big ones are carbon and our waste. A great place to start is asking yourself, what do we really need at this event? Less "things" overall is great way to advance sustainability. #MeetGreenChat
— Eric Wallinger (@EricWallinger) October 7, 2020
A8 The 1st step is to really think through what items are critical to the event experience & what you can do without. Assuming you eliminate a few things, savings can be used for things like more sustainable food choices or higher quality, desirable swag. #MeetGreenChat
— Della Green (@MeetGreenDella) October 7, 2020
What are some other R’s of Sustainability you can think of?
A9: I think an underrated Re- is to Retrain. We all get used to our surroundings and the way things are done and forget that change is hard, takes time, and requires a Retraining effort for all involved. We all experience change differently. #MeetGreenChat
— Aaron Elliott (@MeetGreen_Aaron) October 7, 2020
A9. Respect. Revere. Reward. Recognize. Resonate. Resist. And provocatively, Rile the stuck-in-the-muds who are reluctant to change. #MeetGreenChat
— Unwrapit (@Unwrapit_) October 7, 2020
Are there any other examples you would like to share that we haven’t talked about? If so, please share.
A10: Just that it's easy to focus on Recycling and Reuse efforts as the gold standard, especially because they are easy to quantify. But Reduction is the real gold standard. It's hard to report on Not using materials in the 1st place, but we're getting better. #meetgreenchat
— Aaron Elliott (@MeetGreen_Aaron) October 7, 2020
I want to thank everyone who participated this month and look forward to our next #MeetGreenChat on Twitter at 11AM PT on 11/4/20. We’d love to see there!
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