Case study of SDG Summit

Event proposal includes reference to the University's Sustainability Policy and its implementation

• The steering group for the summit requested that the Sustainable Events Guide be implemented as fully as possible. 
• The group engaged a university Event Planner, reviewed the guide together and set high expectations for environmental performance early on.
  

Sustainability duties have been allocated within our team

• On behalf of the steering group, one staff member was appointed as sustainable operations lead. 
• She partnered with the university's Waste Minimisation Specialist early on in the process to help deliver a waste free event. 
• On the day of the summit, these two staff worked closely with all stakeholders to execute and document the plans. They also took a lead role in assessing the effectiveness of the plans and analysing the summit's impacts.

Suppliers have been asked to avoid unnecessary packaging

• At the time quotes were requested via email, the sustainable operations lead outlined the steering group's wishes for no unnecessary packaging.

Assessment: Overall, suppliers responded well except for one who sent the goods individually wrapped in small plastic sleeves. The sustainable operations lead sent feedback to the supplier. She noted that in future, it may be useful to request a picture of the product as it appears before shipping.

Catering supplies including crockery and cutlery will be reusable

• In the process of procuring a caterer, the sustainable operations lead advised all panel caterers that their proposals for catering service needed to explicitly respond to the sustainable event guide and checklist.
• She had two conversations with the chosen caterer about reusable crockery and cutlery, one before the service agreement had been confirmed, and one after.
• These discussions included the opportunities to prevent all forms of catering waste. 

Assessment: All crockery and cutlery at the summit were reusable. The panel caterer had to hire extra supplies to enable this. The sustainable operations lead recommended the caterer invest in purchasing further supplies or explore an alternative arrangement to avoid hiring costs in future. 

BYO water flask/mug will be encouraged, water fountains/tap water will be provided, and attendees will be given reusables that can be returned to an allocated space at the end of the event (e.g., coffee mugs)

• The steering group included clear messaging in communications with summit delegates around eliminating single use water bottles and disposable cups, and encouraging a bring your own approach. The closest water fountain was marked on the venue map, and delegates were encouraged to use this for refilling bottles.
• The sustainable operations lead made sure that as part of the catering contract, coffee and tea stations and water towers were made available to attendees at all times, with ceramic cups and water glasses able to be taken around the venue and returned when needed.

Assessment: The summit was highly successful at preventing disposables and was 'bottled water free'. Many delegates carried their own reusable coffee mugs and water bottles. They also took to the drink stations enthusiastically and these were topped up frequently. A post-event audit confirmed the communications around avoiding disposables were effective. Only two plastic water bottles (<1% delegates) and eleven disposable coffee cups (<3% delegates) were discovered. 

Catering provider was asked to offer and identify local produce

• The sustainable operations lead talked with the panel caterer about the desire to serve locally grown produce and locally made food. She explicitly requested that they avoid out of season and exotic foods in the menu. The menu was vegetarian as a default, with vegan options. 
• The lead sourced coffee for the summit separately, from a fair trade organic source.

Assessment: The panel caterer committed to offering local food as much as possible, and drew attention to this through the buffet table signage. 

Food quantities have been planned to avoid wastage (e.g. pre-order available for attendees, RSVP) and the caterer will collect pre and post-consumption food waste and include it in the dedicated kitchen food waste stream (only available at specific locations)

• The summit required delegates to register. 
• The steering group sent out information to attendees about the type of food to expect and the intention to prevent food wastage.
• OGGB has a food scrap collection point. The catering staff had a dedicated food scrap bin in the kitchen for pre-consumer food scraps, as well as a bin in the dispatch room used to clear leftovers and used serviettes. The contents were weighed before being emptied into a 240L compost wheelie bin outside.  
  
• The sustainable operations lead worked with catering staff on a staged approach to food service so that uneaten food could be redistributed. 

Assessment: Because registration remained open until the day of the summit, food quantities had a final adjustment 3 days prior to the event. With a 9% no-show rate, the summit had slight overcatering (approximately 98g per registered delegate). A further 35g per registered delegate (the equivalent of 6 tablespoons of cooked lentils) were leftover from partially eaten food left on plates. Scraps were recovered for composting as planned. The catering staff were very committed to keeping unserved food safe for redistribution, which avoided the need for this food to be composted. 

Souvenirs/giveaways/prizes are in accordance with the 
Sustainable Events Guide

• The steering group decided to honour speakers and special guests by sponsoring restoration in the local community. They chose Million Metres Streams for this and selected the Matuku Link Project, a large native forest block in Auckland’s Bethell’s valley. 
• The steering group made up digital gift certificates and displayed them at the end of each speaker’s presentation. These were later sent to speakers individually via email.  
• No souvenirs were provided to delegates, as such. Instead, delegates were offered high quality, 100% New Zealand made pins which could be used to secure their name tag and reflected the summit's theme. 

Assessment: Delegates made very positive comments about both the choice of the speakers’ gifts and the pins. Many said they would use the pins as jewellery. The e-gift certificates for speakers not only saved printing, but also allowed the audience to view the gift as it was shared on the big screen. 

Public transport, walking, cycling, ride sharing will be encouraged

• Pre-summit email communications to participants encouraged 'sustainable methods of mobility' and promoted walking, cycling and public transport options, with guidance on bus timetables and bike parking. Carparking information was offered after the phrase 'if you have no option but to drive'. 
• During the development of the event app, a 'share a ride' chat feature was created, allowing participants to arranged shared cabs or private rides on the day. 

Assessment: The ‘Share a ride’ chat was developed in a very opportunistic way, as it was not a default in the app. As a result, it was not ready in time for the pre-summit email communications. Nevertheless, there were 18 posts and at least one ride shared. The sustainable operations lead recommended that this function should be built into all event apps. 

Signage/marketing will be modular, time sensitive material kept to a minimum, and suppliers will take away all packaging items

• Pre-existing, reusable SDG bunting owned by the Sustainability Office was adapted to include the logo of both event hosts. 
• Volunteers wearing clearly identifiable SDG t-shirts were there to assist people with wayfinding. 
• The majority of communications on the day were delivered via e-screens and the event app.
  
• The panel caterer employed reusable crates to deliver and pack up.

Assessment: Some cardboard boxes and a small quantity of printed materials from sponsors were left behind. The sustainable operations lead noted that improving engagement with sponsors in advance and requiring a pack in, pack out approach would help prevent this in the future.

Public facing areas of the event will be waste free (no waste or recycling bins)

• The Waste Minimisation Specialist removed all bins prior to the event and ensured the caterers kept their waste separation bins in back of house areas, and monitored these to reduce contamination. 
• The steering group included pre-summit communications to attendees about our waste free venue.  
  

Assessment: The waste free approach worked very well and the caterers were highly cooperative. Only a small number of landfill items were discovered (15). 

Other actions: Caring for climate

• The sustainable operations lead developed a ‘Caring for Climate’ plan to identify the sources and quantity of greenhouse gas emissions associated with the summit for mitigation purposes. 
• Following best practice, emissions were estimated from 1) landfill, recycling and food waste, 2) travel, and 3) venue electricity consumption. 
• Waste related emissions were calculated as part of the waste audit data analysis.
• Travel emissions were estimated from an online travel log that attendees were asked to fill out in advance of the summit.
• Electricity emissions were calculated with assistance from the University's Energy Manager. 
• The lead assessed three different mitigation and/or off-setting options and selected the Omaru Stream Million Metres restoration project. 

Assessment: 12% of registrants filled out the travel log form pre-event. The sustainable operations lead had to manually input travel data using registration details to achieve > 95% completion to make reasonable assumptions. In hindsight, a tablet at the registration desk with the travel log would have been useful, and could have improved accuracy and saved significant post-event work.

Event team will conduct a waste audit

• The Waste Minimisation Specialist conducted a post-event waste audit and produced a report for the sustainable operations lead. 

Assessment: Waste resulting from the summit included: 2kg of landfill waste, 2.5kg of paper and cardboard recovered for recycling, 17.5kg of bottles and cans recovered for recycling, and 49kg of food scraps recovered for composting. The Waste Minimisation Specialist noted further possibilities for reducing the quantity of food scraps, including through communications with caterers and attendees.

Effectiveness and outreach of actions taken will be assessed (e.g. survey)

• The steering group sent out a 'How did we do?' survey at the conclusion of the summit. This asked attendees about highlights, improvements, their opinions on food and drink and their ratings of the effectiveness of nine key sustainability initiatives. 

Assessment: 8% of attendees responded to the survey. The vast majority rated the sustainability initiatives as effective or strongly effective, with very few 'neutral' or 'ineffective' responses. There were a few critical comments about the food service, suggesting there was not quite enough food at morning tea but too much at lunch time.

Suppliers and expenses will be reviewed to identify potential improvements (especially with regards to single use/disposable items)

• The sustainable operations lead reviewed the event as a whole, against the budget, and with a close look at the costs and procedures surrounding reusables.

Assessment: The summit was delivered on budget. Hiring crockery and cutlery was costly relative to single use options, but the latter are not priced to reflect their true cost. Interestingly, the caterer reported ‘over hiring’ of crockery, especially ceramic cups, because of a concern about running out. The sustainable operations lead noted that this concern could be potentially addressed through more promotion of BYO and dishwashing onsite during the event (where facilities exist).