Navigating the circular economy shift in the events industry
If there’s one thing we’ve learnt from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, is the need to rethink and redesign our businesses for resilience. This devastating event can become our catalyst to build a recovery strategy based on better principles, practices and priorities.
It’s our chance to start fresh. There are lessons from the current crisis that should guide our response to the next one.
Because, it’s not just the global pandemic or the economy, we should be worried about, but also resource scarcity and global warming.
Let’s discover the circular economy!
The circular economy is part of the solution to our global climate emergency and its approach focuses on products, services and systems designed to maximise their value and minimise waste.
It’s a new economic system aimed to eliminate waste and the continual use of resources which takes the old linear model of TAKE -MAKE -DISPOSE and transforms it into REDUCE- REUSE — RECYCLE to ensure sustainability and use of resources within planetary boundaries.
What it means for the events industry?
With the complexity in event planning involving multiple suppliers and a long supply chain, it’s impossible to come up with a clear and comprehensive answer to how the system will take shape in the events industry context.
But, we can only imagine!
Because sometimes..
“Imagination can be better than knowledge” — Albert Einstein
From an event professional perspective, all event practices will need a revamp placing the minimum/no waste goal at the centre of every decision as well as a strong event partner relationship!
In the DESIGN stage, the team will require a circular buy in from all stakeholders involved, an exercise worth doing to ensure everyone is aligned and excited about the prospects of a minimal waste event. Once everyone is on board, that’s when the planning of the full circular journey for each event element can commence.
You will require considered creatives who are willing to adapt designs based on production feedback. And if you can afford it, a materials expert to help guide the process making sure the event concept is upheld whilst complying with the environmental aims of the project.
When it comes to PRODUCTION, a service flip consideration may be the first point of call. Is there a way of replacing the build elements into something rented or an actual service? For instance, instead of branded physical giveaways, a branded service could be offered such as an invite to an exclusive event, a short course or a link to an exclusive resource through a QR code. If the answer is no to a service-flip and something needs to be built from scratch, your smart materials choices are key to building for a circular economy.
This is the stage, where your supplier choice for materials or service becomes paramount! You can’t be an expert in everything and therefore choosing a supplier with a passion for sustainability and no waste, one with knowledge around the supply chain to help you product map all your resources, is key to building an event for a circular economy.
For the final stage to work, all RECYCLING decisions will need to be established in the planning process, deciding on any of these 3 outcomes:
- Can the leftover materials be reused or repurposed for another event?
- Can the materials be remanufactured into something else that can be used for another event?
- If the answer to the above is NO, only then, should you be working out what types of raw materials have been used and how to recycle them
Huge transformation is needed but it doesn’t all need to happen at once.
These are some thought starters on circular practices but also agility exercises to help you develop your ability to respond to our ever-changing environment.
Change is the only constant, right?
And if resilience and ability to adapt aren’t the top qualities for a thriving event industry, I’m not sure what is.
If you are a supplier, 9% of businesses are already circular — what are you waiting for?
Keep us posted once you do!
