We headed to The Green Events & Innovations conference (GEI15) held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel on February 28th.  It was a really interesting day that brought together hundreds of event professionals to discuss and explore sustainability within our industry. With sessions on moving away from fossil fuels, making more sustainable food choices and looking at greener touring options.

One of the highlights for us on the day was the Quick Fire Innovation Round that saw five businesses showcasing unique products and services which are all making a difference. Here, we share a round up of those with you and links so you can find out more if they’re of interest.

  1. BINGAGEMENT

Festival Waste Reuse and Diversion is the UK’s only charity dedicated to reducing and diverting waste from festivals and events through engagement, motivation and kindness. 

The team is using a Soundsystem and gamification on bins at festival sites to create positive experiences and encourage people to pick up litter. Games, rewards, music, kindness and positivity mean that not only to people know what the right thing to do is, but it’s also the fun thing to do.

https://f-wrd.co.uk/bingagement/

 

  1. CARNICYCLE

Carnicycle was formed in November 2018 as the first social enterprise to recycle carnival costumes in the world. Its mission is to bridge the gap between Carnival Culture (carnival, fetes, and other festivals) and sustainability through environmental advocacy and costume recycling.

 

https://www.carnicycle.com/

  1. GEOBLOCS

GEIA Inc is an Irish based startup that has created novel and unique ways to find funding for ecologically sound projects around the world with an emphasis on fair trade and equity. Bringing together a collaboration of experts from around the world from backgrounds such as finance, technology, conservation and agro-forestry creating full circle systems for regenerating arid land and biosphere reclamation. 

One initiative is Geoblocs, a blockchain utilising geospatial technology along with on the ground monitoring to create verifiable regeneration projects around the world that focus on biodiversity, social impact and local economics.

https://www.geia.ie/geoblocs

     

4. STOMP: Sustainable Tools for Online Music Practices

STOMP is a project dedicated to responsible digital issues applied to the music sector. This project led by The Green Room aims to examine the uses and tools, to assess the needs of musicians in this area, and aims to help them reduce their digital environmental footprint by proposing a places of knowledge, practices and initiatives. STOMP will provide an overview of the various sustainable and responsible concrete strategies and tools to fill the blind spot that the responsible use of digital technology currently constitutes in our sector.

https://www.thegreenroom.fr/stomp

5. AGAIN

Again is the supply chain infrastructure powering circular packaging. It is helping brands to reduce their packaging waste by allowing them to reuse the same packaging again and again.

Its infrastructure layer will power the world's largest brands to reuse their packaging. A decentralised network of advanced reusable packaging cleaning facilities (“CleanCells") will enable brands to reuse packaging for the same price as single use. Its vision is to shift billions of units of packaging to reuse in a way that has never been done before. The company has gained £2.55m to create supply chain infrastructure, enabling packaging to be refilled and used again. The investment is funding a pilot scheme in London with the Budweiser Brewing Group, Diageo, Biffa, Greene King and Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

https://www.letsuseagain.com/