Sustainable events guide
17 April 2019
The world is in a buzz about green and sustainable business practices, and the University of Auckland is implementing practical steps to help us meet our responsibilities.
Following the principles of the University's Sustainability Policy, a new Sustainable Events Guide has been developed based on international best practice and ISO standards.
The guide is an initiative of the Sustainability Office and Campus Life’s Commercial Services, who worked to ensure the guide would cover the University’s diverse array of events and stakeholders.
The intent is to encourage people to think about how they can plan their event to be more sustainable without being more expensive. Christine McGonigal, Campus Life’s event services manager says, "The beauty of the guide is that it lays out steps to improve the sustainability of your event, with an emphasis on stakeholder commitment, planning and communication, which is very vital".
The guide helps organisers incorporate sustainable principles at every step of planning and managing their event.
Our main aim was to make something of high quality that goes beyond tips, helps open up conversations on this issue and is accessible to all those organising events at the University
The guide aims to help event organisers to:
- Minimise the energy, water and material resources used
- Promote the use of sustainable modes of transport
- Utilise current systems for recovery and disposal correctly
- Prevent waste at source
The guide is online and is accessible to both staff and students. A supporting checklist is also available, and the next step is to create a survey to measure improvements in sustainability over time.