After the UN report indicating the dire need for greater steps for sustainability, we put on our thinking caps and fired up the research engine.

One of the best ways to make our meetings more planet-friendly is to reduce food waste.  For example, according to WRAP 1.4 million bananas are thrown out every day – which you have to admit, is beyond the reach of even the best banana bread recipe. So, how can we reduce our food waste?

Can we reduce the amount of food at our events overall – for example, can we skip one break and just do three meals and one break?

Encourage people to take home the food items that are left over if they are going to be thrown out.

Ask your caterer or venue to do smaller portions – big eaters can always have another serving but it means far less left on the plate that will be thrown out.

Ask your vendors if they compost.

1. Can we reduce the amount of food at our events overall – for example can we skip one break and just do three meals and one break?
2. Encourage people to take home the food items that are left over if they are going to be thrown out.
3. Ask your caterer or venue to do smaller portions – big eaters can always have another serving but it means far less left on the plate that will be thrown out.
4. Ask your vendors if they compost.

1. one of the best ways to make our meetings more planet-friendly is to reduce the food waste.  For example, according to WRAP 1.4 million bananas are thrown out every day – which you have to admit, is beyond the reach of even the best banana bread recipe. So, how can we reduce our food waste?
   1. Can we reduce the amount of food at our events overall – for example can we skip one break and just do three meals and one break?
   1. Encourage people to take home the food items that are left over if they are going to be thrown out.
   1. Ask your caterer or venue to do smaller portions – big eaters can always have another serving but it means far less left on the plate that will be thrown out.
   1. Ask your vendors if they compost.
2. Meat has a huge carbon footprint and it would be helpful to reduce our consumption of meat – so just a few ideas…
   1. In a two or three day program, have a few meals that are vegetarian.
   1. Instead of making the default meat with a vegetarian option, what if we did a default of vegetarian and let people order a side of meat?
3. Too Much Stuff
   1. Giveaways – do we need them anymore? Can we do without the logo’d swag?
   1. If we do need them, can our giveaways reflect real craftsmanship and local or sustainably made products? Let’s get away from the plastic or cheaply made items that don’t last very long before they join the mountains of plastic garbage.
4. Plastic is a problem –
   1. Ask your suppliers to reduce their plastic use – I recently did an event that we ordered coasters for the tables as a branding opportunity and never in my experience did I expect each coaster to come wrapped in it’s own plastic wrapper! For only 150 coasters, we had a huge pile of plastic and so we have asked the supplier in future to not wrap the coasters.
   1. Can we also reduce the plastic and non-renewable packaging and replace it with biodegradable and plant-based alternatives?
   1. There should be no more plastic water bottles if we can help it – at this point, I think everyone has a reusable water bottle. (If not, let me know – I can happily gift you one of the dozens in my kitchen cupboard!)
5. Transportation
   1. We need to use group transportation more often – so you can organize group transfers and encourage the attendees to take public transportation.
   1. Encourage your attendees to rideshare – what better way to team build than a road trip.

I know these things aren’t easy – we’ve developed some wasteful habits, but if we support and encourage each other we can make a larger difference by signaling to the larger corporations and lawmakers that sustainability is important to us.