Association Voice
Sustaining
the effort
Martin Cotrell, ESSA board member
and MD at A1 Event Cleaners reports
from the sustainability coal-face
A
“Before you can
change the world,
you have to
change minds. To
do that you need
to understand
what minds are
thinking.”
56 — October
ny event business that hasn’t been tuned in
to the national conversation may not have
much interest in sustainability, but for the rest
of us - we know how important it is to the future
of our industry. Not only is there a pressing
environmental need, but an economic one too.
For all the chatter on the internet, you’d think
that abolishing plastic straws and cups and giving
away compostable freebies is all that’s required.
In truth, these measures don’t even scratch the
surface.
Working at the sustainability coal-face, I
know how much perfectly usable, reusable and
recyclable material gets sent to landfill and
incinerated. Whilst this amount is going down, I
still see a great deal of needless, damaging waste
all around me.
For some, it’s all an event organiser’s
responsibility - it’s up to an organiser, in
partnership with the venue, to set the event’s
sustainability credentials, to determine waste
sorting and recycling options, to manage food
waste, minimise energy wastage and so on.
That’s true, up to a point. But it’s not sufficient
- every supplier should be focused on ensuring
their contribution is sustainable in and of itself,
regardless of arrangements on the show floor.
How you’re going to do this depends in large part
on the type of business you’re in.
Anyone with a fleet of vehicles to manage
will be keenly aware of fuel prices, carbon
emissions and the costs of going into London’s
ULEZ with a non-compliant vehicle; in the
same way an exhibition graphics firm will
know the sustainability profile of its VOC inks
versus vegetable-based, biodegradable inks, or
the advantages of different kinds of recyclable
substrates.
But what neither of these firms is likely to
realise is how the other approaches sustainability.
And that is where we can make a real difference
without, and this bit is important, spending any
money.
Before you can change the world, you have to
change minds. To do that you need to understand
what minds are thinking and perceiving - which
is why I believe the key to unlocking a sustainable
event industry is education and information.
We must embed sustainable thinking into every
part of our business, from the front desk to the
boardroom. In the back of our minds, every time
we make a business decision like the purchase of
a new vehicle or which print options to offer to
customers, we should ask ourselves - is this the
most sustainable decision? And if it isn’t - is there
an overwhelming economic or practical reason to
choose the less sustainable option?
If we can ask questions about our own
sustainable practices and strategies, and then
pose those self-same questions to our suppliers
down the chain, and they to theirs in turn, then
we begin to create an expectation of sustainability
that can cascade through the event ecosystem.
This is one of the many reasons why ESSA will
be taking significant strides in sustainability next
year. The specifics are still under wraps, so I can’t
say much at this point. But when I chair the next
cross-association Sustainability Working Group
later this month, we will be looking at just how we
can best educate and inform our industry peers to
work towards delivering sustainability by default,
rather than by design. And sustainability by
default is where we need to be.