As Jones (2010) empathises, there is a growing demand for sustainable products in all sectors of life. Sustainability.mit.edu (n.d.) guide for sustainable catering indicates that sustainable catering is the use of locally resourced foods and the proper use of food disposal and renewable products. Jones (2010) agrees with this and highlights that many people are becoming more concerned about the environment and the world we live in, which has resulted in a growing demand to find “greener” alternatives. She also states that a lot of new companies are producing these new alternatives, so it is important to keep up with these innovative methods especially in this volatile industry. Wahlen et al.(2011) further develops this notion by stating that the government are becoming increasingly interested in methods to become sustainable and as catering contributes to a large proportion of public spending then they are trying to influence this by new licences such as ISO 20121.
As an event organiser it is crucial to keep your ideas up to date with modern trends, and at the moment it’s all about sustainable catering! But how can we do this? The lovely people at Sustainability.mit.edu (n.d.) have helped us employ their principles. Firstly, consider the amount of food that gets put to waste at an event, I remember I use to work for a wedding company and at the end of night I was always scrapping food into the bin thinking surely there are better things we can do with this? Well Sustainability.mit.edu (n.d.) suggest that food which hasn’t been touched can be contributed to homeless shelters or can be disposed into compost piles and in turn sold or reused. Another method is the use of seasonal menus, these are foods which are ripe to pick and use and not only does it create a memorable talking point but also often proves to be cheaper and the products are often locally resourced. Finally, the use of reusable dinnerware is integral, as Sustainability.mit.edu (n.d.) state that the amount on non-reusable ones that are being destroyed is becoming farcical. Not only are you helping Mother Earth but your clients will greatly appreciate not having to use plastic cutlery!
In the next section I wanted to provide a counter argument towards sustainable catering. However I could not find any material supporting this. Nevertheless the factor which I could think of preventing you from using sustainable methods is lack of planning time, so it becomes more convenient to use unsustainable products and methods.
Overall, sustainability is becoming a bit part of society. New innovative ideas combined with the moral implications and the long term financial benefits should convince any event organiser to get on board and put there “green” thinking caps on. So get out there and give Mother Nature a helping hand!
Jones , M. (2010), Sustainable event management – A practical guide. London, Earthscan
Sustainability.mit.edu (n.d.) MIT Sustainability | MIT Sustainability. [online] Available at: http://sustainability.mit.edu/ [Accessed: 14 Dec 2012].
Wahlen, S., Heiskanen, E., & Aalto, K. (2012). Endorsing sustainable food consumption: Prospects from public catering. Journal of Consumer Policy. doi:10.1007/s10603-011-9183-4.
Understanding Event Operations 