Environmental Sustainability Policy

We recognise the great importance of minimising our environmental impact and are committed to implementing change and utilising ethical practices throughout the event. We aim to encourage a sustainable approach within the outdoor events industry, and communicate this effectively to all stakeholders, including: staff, exhibitors, contractors and attendees wherever possible.

 

Sustainability initiatives by the organisers;

  1. Travel – We encourage and support car sharing with Liftshare and the use of public transport where possible. We also supply a free shuttle bus from Newbury Station to the Showground will operate on the 2 Show days.
  2. We balance all our staff, crew and visitor travel miles with Onboard Earth! We’re working with the charity Onboard Earth to balance our fossil-fuel travel miles. 100% of our donation will be invested directly into clean renewable energy or planting trees, helping to tackle the environmental impacts of our travel and turning a problem into a solution!
  3. We encourage all stakeholders to bring along a reusable water bottle and coffee cup.  The Show provides free drinking water fill up points in the Exhibition Hall Café and Show catering area. 
  4. The Show's main cafe outlets and bar will also be serving drinks in resuable cups, generously supplied by ReUz. All reusable cups need to be returned to the ReUz returns bins that will be located around the Showgorund. This has prevented 10,000's of single use cups being used over the last 10 years.
  5. We work closely with our power supplier to increase our energy efficiency. Over the last 10 years we have managed to more than half our fuel consumption per event. We power the Show site with a mix of mains power and generators, which use Green D+ HVO fuel.
  6. We follow the waste hierarchy (prevention, minimisation, reuse, recycling, energy recovery, disposal) and are a zero waste to landfill event.  We encourage all stakeholders to minimise the waste they produce and to use the recycling bins and skips provided. The carpet we us in our exhibition hall is fully recycled by the supplier. We work with Event Cycle who repurpose and redistribute leftover event materials. Over the last tens year the amount of waste the event produces as been reduced from 17 tons in 2014 to 6 tons in 2024.
  7. 50% of the toilets on site are Compost Loos. We have reduced the events water consumption by more than half, from 333 Cubic Litres in 2015 to 120 Cubic Litres in 2024.
  8. Our registered offices are powered by a 100% renewable energy tariff.
  9. We work closely with, and invest in, organisations who are promoting and supporting the improvement of the event industry’s environmental impact.
  10. We use Creative Green Tools (www.ig-tools.com) from Julie's Bicycle (www.juliesbicycle.com) to record and monitor our carbon impact.

 

Sustainability initiatives for exhibitors;

  1. Water efficiency – we request that exhibitors only use what they actually need.
  2. Carpet – we recommend using the Show’s supplier who in turn arranges the recycling of the used carpet. Please contact the organisers for details.
  3. Please help the Show to be single use plastic-free. Consider the promotional goods you want to use and avoid giving away single use plastic items. The Show's main cafe outlets and bar will also be serving drinks in resuable cups, generously supplied by ReUz. All reusable cups need to be returned to the ReUz returns bins that will be located around the Showgorund.
  4. We have teamed up with EventCycle who can repurpose, and redistribute, event materials that you no longer need into charity donations. Click here for more information.
  5. Book stand power early so organisers have a clear idea of your power requirements.  If you are unsure what will be needed, please get in touch to discuss.
  6. Power management on your stand - we ask exhibitors to switch off equipment over night and at times when they are not in use, where possible.
  7. We are undertaking a large scale exercise to calculate the carbon footprint of the whole event, a significant part of which is made up of our Exhibitor’s project builds, and we ask that our Exhibitors, or their appointed project stand builder, help us to understand the overall environmental impact of the show. If your company already collects & records its carbon footprint for the show, please send this information to info@showmans-directory.co.uk.  If you currently do not but would like to measure your stand’s carbon footprint at The Showman’s Show, we have partnered with Green Circle Solutions, who offer a comprehensive event carbon calculator. We will then offset your carbon impact, at no extra cost to you, through our partners at Onboard Earth.
  8. Serving Food on your stand? Please use reusable or compostable cutlery.  We can recommend ReUz for reusable catering equipment. We can suggest www.biopac.co.uk for compostable catering equipment. You will be provided with a separate food waste bin, which we would like you to use to avoid contaminating the recyclable waste stream. Any food waste collected is also sent to be composted. 
  9. Encourage exhibitors to check the environmental credentials of their stand contractors.
  10. We recognise and reward exhibitors who are demonstrating a commitment to developing environmental credentials with the Green Supplier and Innovation Award.