Busy bees bask in Business Award buzz

In 2022, the Embassy of Belgium in Canberra hosted a celebration for World Bee Day.

The Embassy set its sights on making the event waste free.

Their event was awarded the Sustainable Event Award at the 2022 Climate Choices Business Awards.

“World Bee Day is a very important occasion to mark,” said His Excellency, Mr Michel Goffin, Ambassador of the Embassy of Belgium in Canberra.

“Bees are a fundamental building block of the world’s ecosystems. Celebrating world bee day raises awareness about how important they are and what we can do to protect them from manmade threats.

“Protecting bees is protecting our natural environment. It made sense for our event to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

“We approached the Sustainable Business Team for guidance in how to keep our event environmentally sustainable and find ways to minimise waste to landfill.

“We tried as much as possible to only purchase items for the event that created minimal or, preferably, zero waste.

“The Sustainable Business Team provided us with signage and flags, bin covers and crates for the collection of aluminium cans. This ensured that patrons at the event could see very clearly how and where to recycle any waste.

“The Sustainable Business Team also provided water stations and refillable aluminium bottles, allowing patrons to refill their bottles with tap water hence creating zero waste.

“Our website for the event advertised the fact that it was a zero-waste event and requested that patrons bring their own refillable bottles or cups and also asked patrons to be mindful of their mode of transport.

“We also had a QR code on site at the fair which took patrons to the event website giving patrons access to site maps and information. This meant that there was no need to print paper maps or brochures.

“Vendors on the day were informed prior to the event that we were aiming for zero waste and asked to keep this in mind with packaging any goods for sale. The vendors on site were offered aluminium refillable bottles to use throughout the day.

“All food and drink available for purchase at the fair were sold in fully recyclable or compostable packaging - either glass, aluminium or paper packaging was used.

“75% of the waste produced on the day ended up being recycled. Over 400 people attended the event and we managed to keep the waste to landfill down to 80 litres (or 2/3 of a residential sized garbage bin). A further 240 litres of waste was recycled.

“All of the funds raised from the fair on the day went to the ‘Help on Bee Wings’ project to assist Ukrainian Beekeepers.

“We were really pleased to receive the Sustainable Event Award at the Climate Choices Business Awards – that was definitely a buzz for our whole team.

“We couldn’t have done it without the Sustainable Event Team. I would definitely recommend contacting them if you’d like to host an environmentally friendly event.”

Is your business, organisation or event making efforts to reduce waste, increase sustainability and lower its carbon footprint? Get recognised with a Climate Choices Business Award! Learn more about the Awards here.