The year 2024 is almost here, bringing with it fresh potential and a new set of resolutions. For us, one of our goals remains consistent throughout the years: to be as eco-friendly as possible. We would love to be the most sustainable event space in Cincinnati, and we let that motivation guide us in finding new ways to reduce waste from events.
However, we live in a society that makes it very easy to waste, and much harder to be smart about consumption. It can feel especially challenging to reduce waste in events, where single-use items have been the norm for so long.
We wanted to get some expert advice on creating an eco-friendly approach to event planning, so we spoke with Erin Fay, the board president at Cincinnati Recycling & Reuse Hub. She’s been with the non-profit since its start in 2021. Since then, they’ve reused or recycled over 310 tons of material, Erin tells us.
Erin had a lot of wisdom to share on where to focus your energy when developing low-waste strategies. Let’s dig in!
The order of importance
Recycling can keep some things out of the landfills, but to make the biggest impact we need to focus on reducing first. Creating and buying less is the surest way to cut down on waste.
“If I've learned anything it’s that we all need to reduce more first,” Erin says. “Recycling isn’t the answer and it never will be.”
The waste hierarchy—reduce, reuse, recycle—outlines the order of actions that will be most effective at keeping trash out of limited landfill space. When planning an event, make reduction your top priority. Then you can look for ways to reuse and figure out the best way to recycle what’s left.
Reduce
Events can quickly accrue lots of waste, from print outs to paper plates for lunch. It might seem like an event can’t be done without filling up multiple trash bags. But the Cincinnati Recycling & Reuse Hub has proven otherwise. Their annual Hub-toberfest event saw about 400 people in attendance this year, and they finished the day with just a single, tiny bag of trash. To meet this goal, they leveraged composting, requiring all food trucks to use compostable materials at the event.
“We’re selling food and we’re selling drinks and all those kinds of things,” Erin says. “We’re just taking a lot of time to think about our trash.”
Opting for compostable materials is one way to minimize your event’s waste. But Erin’s biggest advice for reducing? Saying no to single-use items. We know it’s a challenge—they’re convenient, inexpensive, and they can make life so much easier. But they’re far from ideal.
“If we really think about the life cycle of a paper plate and what it took to get that paper plate at your house—the oil, the extraction from the earth, the shipping—all of the things had to occur to get that paper plate,” Erin says. “Then you use it for seven minutes and then it goes in the trash.”
Think about how to reduce waste at your event from the start. Can you use something other than plastic spoons and forks? Do you need to print out reference pages for each person, or can they look at it on a computer?
“Everything should be about reduce first,” Erin says.
Reuse
Whenever she hosts an event, Erin fetches her party supply box from the basement. This box contains silverware and plates that she has collected over the years. So instead of buying more, she can reuse what she already has.
If you’re regularly hosting gatherings, you could create your own party box, or a collection of items you know you’ll reuse whether it’s pens, mugs, or cloth napkins. Bonus points if you get these items second-hand. Erin finds things she needs on her local Buy Nothing Facebook page, but you could also thrift things or find things like office supplies at the Hub. They keep a stock of free donated items like fabric, binders, gardening pots, and more. You can call ahead to see what they have, or just come shop during open hours.
“We really are pretty passionate at the Hub about reuse,” Erin says. “About 50% of what we do is take things in and then send them back out to the community all for free.”
A big part of transitioning into a more eco-friendly mindset is just thinking about where things come from and where they go when you’re done with them. If your work event does end up with leftovers like pens or notebooks, save them for next time or donate them.
If you’re hosting elsewhere, it can be a hassle to tote these items to the location. So if you’re scouting event spaces, look for options that provide their own reusable dishes and supplies.
Recycle
“Recycling is very complicated and there’s very little money to be made in it,” Erin tells us.
There’s a reason this option is low in the waste hierarchy. But it’s still valuable, especially if you know when it counts.
One area where recycling is less complicated? Paper. Which means every work event, school building, and office space can do it. Don’t worry about paper clips, staples, and plastic windows on envelopes. Just chuck it in.
“It’s clean, it doesn’t stink, it’s not cumbersome,” Erin says. “Every piece of paper in an office should be put into a recycling bin.”
The Hub can take many of your other items, from styrofoam to plastic cutlery. And they’re a great resource for learning more about reusing and recycling. Erin says that everything at the Hub is hand-sorted, which is what makes their recycling program successful.
The recycling that you take out to a curb is a different story. For that reason, Erin says that wishcycling—just tossing something in and hoping it’s recyclable—can do more harm than good.
“If you do not know or you are just unsure, put it in the garbage can,” she says.
Otherwise, it will reduce the quality of the recycling. And if you want to ensure that items are being sorted and recycled properly, consider dropping your post-event waste at the Hub. Volunteers will help you sort your items into the right bins and can answer any questions.
To learn more about the Cincinnati Recycling & Reuse Hub, visit them at cincinnatirecyclingandreusehub.org and follow along with their Facebook for regular updates.
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