Open Air Business November/December 2016

EVENTS
for Change). They have introduced
numerous initiatives to reduce their
environmental impact, particularly
concerning power and waste,
and have engaged their punters
to improve understanding and
response.
Small changes can have the
biggest impact
In 2015 Shambala banned all
plastic bottles from site and this
year it has gone ‘full veggie’. There
won’t be a single bacon butty
on site! The idea is to challenge
customers to take part in an
experiment to discover whether or
not they can live without meat for a
few days.
Sometimes it’s the small changes
that have a big impact. One of my
personal favourites is Shambala’s
initiative to attach ashtrays to poles
at eye level. This way it’s more likely
that people will actually use them
instead of dropping butts onto the
floor to be trodden into the mud
and eaten by the local wildlife or
livestock. Incremental change
can be easier to achieve and less
intimidating and problematic than
wholesale change.
Shambala is not alone (thank
goodness). Energy Revolution
- a charity set up to tackle travelrelated
emissions and impacts in
the outdoor event industry - has
already turned 1.7 million fossil
fuel travel miles into renewable
energy investments. That was just
by working with 10 UK festival
organisers during its first year.
Now it’s setting up a programme
for event suppliers with a group of
pioneer companies.
At the Nationwide Caterers
Association (NCASS), we are
supporting the 2025 vision through
several different initiatives. Last
year we worked with A Greener
Festival and Fare Share South West
on a project we called Eighth Plate.
Food waste is regularly in the
news these days due not only to its
environmental impact but also to
the sheer number of people around
the world living in food poverty.
The aim of Eighth Plate is to remove
unused waste food from festival
sites and distribute it to food banks
and food poverty charities.
At just seven festivals we were
able to salvage 27 tonnes of food
(enough to make 55,000 meals)!
We worked with festivals to reduce
their environmental impact while
ensuring that good food went to
those that needed it, rather than to
landfill. With around 770 festivals
taking place each year in the UK,
just think how much food could be
salvaged and CO2 reduced if the
entire industry joined the scheme.
You can find out more about the
Eighth Plate project and download
a free toolkit to help you introduce
the scheme at your own events
below.
A new energy calculator for
events
This year at NCASS we are
developing an energy calculator
through our free ‘Connect’ system.
The idea behind the energy
calculator is to measure and
understand how much power
caterers actually need, with the
hope of reducing the current
approach of potential oversupply.
We are hoping to enable power
providers at festivals to better
plan their energy needs, to cut
both costs and emissions. We are
also looking to work with Kambe,
the company behind Shambala
Festival, to provide training for
both catering companies and event
organisers, to help them better
understand the issues and take
action to counter them.
HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR EVENT
MORE SUSTAINABLE?
Taking positive action, and
certainly realising the pledge, will
require buy-in and behavioural
change from the public, suppliers,
infrastructure providers and event
organisers. So what can you do as
an organiser or supplier to make
events more sustainable?
1Sign the pledge
It’s a great first step for you
and your organisation (however
small) to understanding your
environmental impact and
work out ways to reduce it (visit
www.powerful-thinking.org.uk/
vision2025).
2 Connect
Great organisations like A
Greener Festival, Julie’s Bicycle
and Powerful Thinking all provide
support for events looking to
reduce their impact and enhance
their offering. Connect with them to
find options that suit your event.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Laurie is the
director at the
Nationwide Caterers
Association (NCASS),
the only trade
association and
primary authority for
mobile caterers and
street food sellers in
the UK. The NCASS
mission is to provide
traders with all the
information, systems
and support they need
for a profitable, safe
and legal business.
From start-ups to
fully-fledged mobile
ventures, NCASS offers
support and materials
to help caterers at
any stage of business.
Currently looking after
3,500 UK catering
businesses, NCASS
continues to grow year
on year as a result of its
care for and support to
the catering and events
industry.
USEFUL LINKS
Identify
3 Work out what changes you
could enact easily, or which may
offer the best results, and begin
to plan their implementation.
If you are a supplier, identifying
the sustainability needs of your
clients early could help you to win
contracts.
4 Engage
Talk to your punters and
suppliers and get to understand
what motivates them. Find ways
to bring them on this sustainability
journey with you. Equally, it can be
great for your event’s reputation
to engage with the local populace,
press and authorities over your
sustainability progress.
5 Measure
You’ll need to know your
starting point in order to measure
the success of your initiatives. Start
measuring now - even those things
that you may not be looking to
change immediately.
6 Report
Celebrate your successes and
compare them with what others
have achieved. Together, you could
just develop industry best practice.
And make sure you tell NCASS
about it!
A Greener Festival - www.agreenerfestival.com
Eighth Plate - www.eighthplate.org.uk
Energy Revolution - www.energy-revolution.org.uk
Julies Bicycle - www.juliesbicycle.com
NCASS - www.ncassconnect.co.uk/event-organisers
Powerful Thinking - www.powerful-thinking.org.uk
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