Near zero waste at Botanical Bazaar

You’ve gotta love it when the event organiser is so over the moon with the results, so much so they yell it from the rooftops 🙂

Botanical Bazaar, “are proud to report that the new wastage system Greg and the Eco Angels from Climate Wave Enterprises implemented at this year’s festival provided a stellar 92.59% diversion from landfill! And they provided a ‘Sunny Buddy solar powered sound system’ in a wheelie bin which we used for PA announcements!” Full results are below.

Quote from David, Nerang Rotary, “Great report and wonderful job by your team. We had very little to tidy up yesterday when we did final pack up. I am sure all the patrons learnt a lot about what can and cannot be recycled or composted due to your Eco Angels. Your efforts did not go unnoticed by Council staff in attendance.”

Quote from Stacey, Botanical Bazaar organiser,”What a great report! This is incredibly helpful and I feel so proud about the results you have achieved. Thank you so much!”

Quote from Councillor Peter Young Division 5, “Kaboom! Awesome effort and they really were fantastically spirited people! Great move Climate Wave Enterprises and Botanical Bazaar!”

Full Report here:

Climate Wave Enterprises was required to provide the following services:

• Sourcing staff & volunteers
• Hire signage & structure for waste stations
• Sourcing compostable reuse disposal
• Set up onsite waste stations & sorting area
• Coordinating SEM waste management system, staff & volunteers
• Administration and Management

CWE believes we provided all required services and some extras.

SUMMARY

AIM

Climate Wave Enterprises was contracted to handle ZERO WASTE management at Botanical Bazaar 04/08/2019. The aim of a ZERO WASTE event is to minimise the waste going to landfill. All created waste of the event can be reused or recycled. Achieving a ZERO WASTE event requires an effort from all stakeholders involved that include the event management, staff, food vendors, Eco Angels & volunteers as well as the attendees themselves.

Our Zero Waste management components:

• Composting & Reuse
• Food stall engagement
• Waste education
• Waste sorting
• Toilet cleaning
• Site clean up
• Staff engagement

OUTCOMES:

Type	Bins ordered	Bins full	Litres	Litres / total litres
Recycling		2.2	561	0.173094724
Compost		10	2400	0.740512188
Landfill		1	240	0.074051219
Organics		4	40	0.01234187
				Landfill diversion
Total		10	3241	92.59%

The system we put in place is only as good as it’s Eco Angels, who achieved a stellar 92.59% diversion from landfill and a high level of attendee education.

Results:

• 561 Litres Recycled
• 2440 Litres of compostable material was diverted from landfill and composted at Nerang Community Garden
• 40 Litres of organic material was diverted from landfill
• 3 bags of bottles & cans were diverted from recycling, bagged and donated to Gecko Environment Council to be processed through their Container Deposit Scheme system
• Sunny Buddy solar powered sound system in a wheelie bin provided PA for spruiking

FUTURE RECOMMENDATIONS

• Even though mandatory requirements that all vendors adhere to no single use plastic material and that prior to the event all vendors were contacted by phone and the message reiterated we had a few vendors bring plastic.
• All food vendors are required to take home their own waste or have a workable system of diverting into separate streams to then be introduced into our onsite system. Some vendors did not adhere to this and dumped rubbish unseparated into our system which increased percentage to landfill.
• When event attendees bring in their own food & drinks there will always have a higher landfill percentage so security at front gate need to stop foreign material entering the site.

Components of our services:

Composting

The events compostables were taken by Nerang Community Garden which will be layered into their compost system. By using this system, the social & community benefits of this relationship from a sustainable event management perspective far outweigh the easy alternative. Also this system will reduce the waste cartage & processing costs which can be diverted to the community.

Organics

All food scraps were diverted from landfill and delivered to Freeman’s Organic Farm in Currumbin Valley.

Food stall engagement

Our high diversion rate from landfill could not have been achieved without cooperation from the food vendors. They were asked to only provide compostable catering materials.

All food vendors were approached at the beginning of the event and reminded of no single use plastic was to be served. 3 vendors told us they had not read the conditions and were not aware and were guilty of serving plastic until our Angels picked it up at the Zero Waste Station and were visited and asked to refrain from distributing. The Zero Waste policy was not adhered to therefore their waste contaminated our system which took longer to sort. Contamination rate was kept at a minimal level thanks to the vigilance of our Eco Angels.

Waste education

Ideally every waste station at a ZERO WASTE event should have an Eco Angel that can guide people with proper waste disposal and local waste station sorting, so contamination of bins won’t occur and saves time sorting. The level of waste education was high with attendees very open to learn & appreciate what we were trying to achieve.

Event attendees are a captured audience who can be educated on waste, reuse and recycling which is extremely beneficial in the war on waste and they will share this directly into networks in other communities which will bring greater awareness of sustainable events and waste reduction.

Waste sorting

The sorting of refuse was done at the waste station by Eco Angels and then at the sorting area to make sure a pure product was being delivered to Nerang Community Garden.

Toilet cleaning

The toilets were kept clean but our vigilance on maintaining toilet tissue and hand towels could have been more stringent. This was partly due to not having keys for hand towel dispenser.

Site clean up

Our Eco Angels patrolled the site and picked up any discarded refuse so as to maintain a clean site and to encourage others not to discard.

Eco Angels

We received great feedback from the public for our Eco Angels as they found purpose and challenges to waste education. And all learned about waste issues during this event which they will take home to family & friends.

Botanical Bazaar

As Botanical Bazaar contracted CWE to achieve their Zero Waste goals it is clear that staff value sustainable event management and waste systems. This makes achieving ZERO WASTE more credible for everyone.

Thanks to:

Botanical Bazaar staff & volunteers

Eco Angels

Nerang Community Gardens

Freemans Organic Farm

Climate Wave Enterprises once again thanks Botanical Bazaar for the opportunity and would welcome further discussion on recommendations with in this document and further sustainable event management systems that may be undertaken.

e.g.

• Solar Legacy

Report by

Greg Howell

Climate Wave Enterprises…working with the planet