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I was first introduced to “green events” by an educational session at an ISES (International Special Event Society) meeting in 2007. I wasn’t really sure how I could apply it to the events I was producing when I was working for someone else other than recycling water bottles and trying to use less paper in the office.
In October of 2009 I was invited to attend the Chesapeake Sustainable Business Alliance, www.csballiance.org , monthly meeting in my neighborhood by a friend of mine who is a successful Event Planner and is passionate about this cause. I was amazed at all the different types of businesses represented in this organization. There was a florist who used only locally grown flowers in her arrangements that she sold, a caterer that used only locally grown ingredients in his culinary creations, and a holistic veterinarian. This event really gave me insight as to what attempting to run a green business was about.
Since then PWC has adopted these principles and philosophies in many ways. The first being transportation. Since we have clients from Boston to DC it does not make “green sense” for us to transport equipment for an event in Boston all the way from Baltimore where our main office is located. So we rely on our contacts all up and down the east coast for equipment. This also mean we do not have to have a warehouse using fuel for heat and electricity.
Additionally, using energy efficient LED lighting for our client events uses less electricity and since they pack up small they use a lot less truck space. I once did an event in NYC for my old boss’ wife’s birthday using LED Lighting that was amazing; the entire lighting rig packed up into a suitcase and fit in the back of my two-door car. Another benefit of using LED Lighting is that they can change colors. This mean there is no need for an additional set of lights (taking more power) or lighting gels made from a heat resistant polyester, which can not recycle.
Below is an image of that event.
At Home and in the Office
When I was growing up my father and I spent countless hours in the garden together. I got such satisfaction out of growing my own fresh veggies and herbs. Living in the city doesn’t allow for me to have a garden. But I do my best and attempt to grow things in pots out in the “backyard”. Growing things in pots requires A LOT of watering. One thing I do to conserve water is catch the water from the faucet when I am bring the water to temperature before I take a shower. I catch the water in large watering can then I use this to water my city garden.
I also use stainless steel water bottles instead of single serving plastic water bottles. I have a 2 gallon jug of water on the counter that I use to refill the stainless steel bottle. Seems to me that the stainless steel keeps the water cooler longer. Eventually I want to purchase stainless steel water bottles with the PWC logo on them to hand out to staff and client at events.
Aside from bottle, cans, and paper boxes in the kitchen, I also recycle all the junk mail we get. I think the state of Maryland makes money off of selling your newly registered business name to solicitors, since I’ve registered the business there has been a huge increase in junk mail with the business name on it. Between that and all the catalogs we get on a daily basis, especially around the holidays, we collect about 1 paper bag worth every two weeks of junk mail. I am very careful about what goes in to that recycling box. I have a shredder in the office and shred anything that has a name or address on it. I even shred receipts from the grocery store. Call me paranoid I guess but I’d rather not have someone picking through my trash finding out info about what I eat, what medications I take and where I shop etc. I collect all the shredded paper and recycle that too. I have several places in the house that I have recycle bins to make it easy to do.
Another thing I do is use cloth napkins and kitchen towels in lieu of using paper towels. Paper towels account for 3,000 tons of landfill waste EVERYDAY! Yeah, that’s right- EVERDAY! Get with the program and get some pretty all-natural cloth napkins and some nice kitchen towels. I have all white kitchen towels that I got for about $8.00 for a 5 pack. Once they get a little too stained I cut them up and use them for rags for cleaning.
