Ethical and environmentally conscious events
Julia Neal, Events Specialist
Today it is essential for organizations to practice environmental stewardship and sustainability. This has always been an objective of Summit Metro Parks (SMP) and, as a conservation agency, we also want to lead our local community and individual residents to be environmental stewards.
Looking through the sustainability lens, one of last year’s green initiatives was to limit waste at all our events. By thinking ahead about the materials our vendors and visitors will use and dispose of, we are working toward a significant reduction in the amount of waste generated at our events. We started our focus on limiting waste at the 2023 Mother’s Day 5K. From the fully recyclable 100% cotton t-shirts or option to opt out of the race t-shirt and choose an Ohio tree seedling to compostable snack options and recycling the timing chip on the bib, every effort was made to make this event as sustainable as possible. With the success of those endeavors, our goal of expanding that focus to all our events began.
What is sustainability?
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
“Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. To pursue sustainability is to create and maintain the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony to support present and future generations.”
Why event sustainability?
Events often generate a substantial waste output. Contributing factors can include the following:
- Additional fossil fuel burning (generators, increased heating/cooling, transportation)
- Expendable giveaways
- Single-use plastics (packaging, containers, cutlery, straws)
- Decorations
- Paper waste
- Food waste
These materials can have a long-lasting negative impact on the environment. By carefully evaluating the environmental footprint of the events SMP hosts and prioritizing the materials we introduce and utilize, we have the power to significantly reduce the adverse impact on our surroundings. This shift allows us to channel our efforts into minimizing the event’s environmental footprint and promoting sustainability.
Now, more than ever, it is important to steer away from a linear waste economy — a system that extracts resources, transforms them into products and ends in landfill disposal. In contrast, a circular economy minimizes resource consumption and emphasizes reusing, recycling and composting materials to keep them in circulation. In an effort to actively contribute to a circular economy, SMP’s approach for event sustainability involves prioritizing source reduction, facilitating donations, and implementing recycling and composting practices.
Source Reduction
Our first objective is to minimize the amount of waste entering events. We’ve developed a comprehensive vendor guide that encourages participants to opt for items with little to no packaging. Vendors commit to providing items that are reusable, recyclable or compostable, avoiding single-use plastic or foil. If the items vendors are bringing cannot be reused, recycled or composted, then these items should not be purchased, distributed or used during our events.
Donating
If there is surplus of non-perishable food following an SMP event, it is donated to a local shelter. By donating excess food, we are feeding people, not landfills. This supports our local community and prevents waste.
Recycling
Recycling is another terrific way to limit items put into the landfill, but not all recyclable products are equal. The park district’s focus is on items that can be recycled infinitely (glass and metal, including aluminum cans) without losing the quality or purity of the product.
Composting
Beginning in 2024, SMP requires food and drink vendors to use compostable containers and service ware. And of course, food can be composted, too! By avoiding sending food waste to the landfill, which releases methane (a greenhouse gas which contributes to climate change), composting breaks down organic material without releasing methane into the atmosphere. This creates an end product that enriches soil composition, aids microbes in the soil, draws beneficial insects, stabilizes temperature and water levels and supplies slow-release, organic nutrients.
How do we educate visitors at our events?
Waste stream sorting can be confusing, causing items to be placed incorrectly. To combat this issue, we recruit volunteer support to ensure proper sorting of event waste. This role is an educational role that assists visitors with determining what type of waste goes in which bin, helps them understand why limiting waste is important and the difference they are making by participating in these efforts.
Interested in becoming a Waste Wise Volunteer for Summit Metro Parks? Please email volunteer@summitmetroparks.org.
2023 by the numbers
Recycling:
Items recycled by the park district include water and solvent based paints, batteries, spill containment materials/unknown material and recycled tires:
- 89 pounds of alkaline batteries
- 341 gallons of used oil
- 55 gal/300 approx. of used oil filters and recovered (5+) gallons of used oil in 6-month period using an oil filter recycling crusher
- 55 gallons of used Antifreeze
- 322 tires
- 48 pounds of fluorescent bulbs
- 220 gallons of non-hazardous solids such as oily rags and used spill containment items
- 55 gallons of waste paints/thinners
- 110 gallons of diesel/gas recycled
- 810 Christmas trees, collected between December 26, 2023, and January 31, 2024
- 8,920 pounds of e-waste, collected at Summit E-waste bins located in Summit Metro Parks
- 719,945 pounds of paper & boxes
- 221 gallon cider jugs
- 1.5 pounds of candy wrappers, collected in Rubicon boxes at F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm Visitors Center
- 87 coroplast signs
Composting:
- 153.2 total pounds collected at five events
- 38.51 pounds collected through composting at the park district’s Administrative Offices beginning October 2023.
