On the 24th of March 2018, Climate Wave Enterprises aimed for a zero-waste event at the exciting Concert for the Planet, Earth Hour event held at the Home of the Arts on the Gold Coast.
Almost all food stalls at the event participated by providing compostable catering products such as bowls, cups and cutlery for the concert-goers to minimise single-use plastics and our impact on the environment. A team of 14 volunteer Eco Angels assisted Climate Wave in educating the attendees the correct bin to dispose of their waste/resource and how it will be processed, reused & recycled.
At the Concert for the Planet event, 30 attendees (from approx. 1500) were surveyed on their thoughts, opinions and experiences with single use plastic & compostable catering products.
- 57 percent didn’t know the event had compostable catering products.
- 47 percent had not attended an event with compostable catering products.
- 90 percent of respondents said they had not attended an event that had been free of single-use plastics.
- 97 percent of respondents said they would prefer to use compostable catering products over single-use plastics.
- 85 percent of respondents said they would be more inclined to go to a café if they provided compostable cups instead of plastic cups.
Educating attendees that the event had no single-use plastic and is minimising landfill is always important as it lets the attendees think about their waste and its possible impact on the environment.
Implementing reusable or compostable catering products and phasing out single use plastics may actually be of benefit to a business and leave more satisfied customers.
Using the Concert for the Planet event as an example, Climate Wave Enterprises in conjunction with Surfrider Foundation Ocean Friendly Business program are reaching out to cafés on the Gold Coast to phase out single-use plastics and utilise reusable or compostable catering products. The compostable waste can be donated by cafés to community gardens to be used in their compost. The Concert for the Planet was a successful waste management event and it’s exciting to see how easy and simple it is for the community and for businesses to minimise waste and single-use plastics.
At this event we achieved a 72 % waste diversion rate from landfill.
If you’d like more information about the process please read this story and to follow our Griffith University Intern Emily Looke who is monitoring the breakdown of the compostables over the next few months at Joan Park Community Gardens see our Facebook Photo Album.