Feature
Truly zero waste
Meet Ecobooth, the sustainable events company
striving to change how the industry tackles waste
N
ick Marks, founder of Ecobooth,
has some thoughts about events
companies that claim to be sustainable.
“There are companies who to this day
are still saying ‘60/70 per cent is reused’,
and the reality is that it’s three to five per
cent, it’s tiny,” he tells EN. “A lot of it isn’t
malicious it’s just a lack of understanding.
People might think that something being
burnt counts as it being recycled because
it’s incinerated for energy. The reality is
it doesn’t, and that’s not good enough
anymore.”
Ecobooth is a young company, having
launched in September 2018 as a truly
zero-waste solution for organisers and
brands. The company collects waste
plastic and transforms it into a wide
range of potential structures.
“We do the same stuff that you get
at an event production house,” says
Marks. “Circular economy events,
environmentally-driven events, external
events, roadshows, product launches […]
using entirely recycled materials, that are
entirely recyclable at the end.
“It’s genuine zero waste and zero
damage. We deliver in electric vehicles.
Our production house runs off renewable
energy. We’re a zero-waste company.
Those are all credentials that this
industry has failed to adopt yet, even
though other industries are doing so.”
While many companies in the events
industry have a sustainability policy in
some form or another, Marks believes
there is a long way to go.
“I think the events industry has been
sweeping it under the carpet for a long
time,” he says. “There’s an element of
deliberate greenwashing, which I think is
a real problem and needs to be addressed
head on. But there’s also a learning that
needs to happen.
In general, the brands that come here
are coming to say, ‘we don’t even know
what event sustainability is. We want to
do it, we know we should be, but where do
we start?’ That’s the right approach; the
best way to start is just put your hands up
and say, ‘we know we haven’t been doing
it right and we want to change’.
Many of the company’s customers are
big, global brands which, in addition to
any existing passion for sustainability
they might have, are required to account
for their impact on the environment to
external bodies.
“The smaller guys aren’t,” adds Marks.
“If you look at the companies coming
[to Ecobooth], there’s no one in there
that wouldn’t be classified as a major
company.”
When Marks was carrying out research
ahead of launching the company, one
major piece of feedback from marketers
kept appearing again and again – the
finished product couldn’t ‘look recycled’.
“So that’s how we’ve developed all
the products here,” he says. “Our press
boards are exactly the same as plywood
boards and the stuff we 3D print looks
better than anything else you see in the
events industry. So there’s a there’s a
quality of the product as well.”
Ecobooth has recently secured
a partnership with financial event
Sibos, which will have a ‘repurpose
with purpose’ programme and where
Ecobooth will be available to build
sustainable exhibition stands.
Chantal Van Es, head of Sibos, said:
“Every year we strive to create a positive
legacy that lasts for generations to come
and so we very much welcome this
exciting new partnership with Ecobooth.”
Marks believes that a sea-change is
on the horizon for sustainability in the
events industry.
“I spoke with the biggest companies
in the industry and they’re looking at
Ecobooth very carefully, they know it’s
coming,” he concludes. “They want to
just keep going where they are making
their money until the last possible
minute. I think I think that’s done, I think
they’ve got to that minute. You’ll see a lot
of changes over the next 12 months.” EN
“The industry is very
deliberately ignoring
sustainability”
April — 35