Biffa sees recycling, composting opportunities at events

Pointing to music concerts and athletic events, English recycling and waste firm Biffa and barcoding technology firm Domino Printing Sciences, also based in the U.K. in Cambridge, England, say the prospects of hosting a recycling-centric event are better than ever.

“Around the world, sustainable events are gaining pace as brands and businesses face pressure from governments, regulators and consumers to reduce their environmental impact,” Craig Stobie of Domino and Amy Hooper of Biffa write in a February essay.

The co-authors first note room for improvement. Citing different studies, Hooper and Stobie say the average event wastes 15 percent to 20 percent of all the food it produces, and the average conference attendee generates about 4.15 pounds of discarded material, of which more than 2.5 pounds heads to a landfill.

They say the situation is ripe for improvement.

“Events, including brand-sponsored consumer events, as well as trade shows and conferences, provide a fantastic closed-loop ecosystem that organizations can use to run pilot projects or trial initiatives” pertaining to recycling or landfill diversion, Stobie and Hooper say.

“Out in the real world, brands have very little insight into, or control over, how a consumer will engage with or discard packaging and products. Events allow businesses a unique opportunity to oversee many key aspects of consumer interaction with items—from usage to disposal,” adding it then becomes possible to create and test scenarios “aimed at enabling more control of the end-of-life phase.”

The expertise of a coding firm like Domino, which has a North American office in Gurnee, Illinois, and a recycling company like Biffa can come into play at events in ways such as providing dedicated smart bins that scan returned smart packaging equipped with technologies like QR codes, radio frequency identity (RFID) tags or near-field communication (NFC) chips, according to the essay.

“Whether it’s reusable containers, fully compostable packaging, recycling or a mix of all three, the closed-loop nature of events allows brands to see first-hand how consumers respond to packaging while providing an opportunity to better control or support a more sustainable end-of-life phase,” the co-authors say.

Hooper and Stobie point to the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, as an example where more than 100 Biffa employees volunteered as “recycling ambassadors,” helping attendees use the correct bins for discarded materials.

At the event, Biffa reportedly collected more than 400 metric tons of discarded material, more than half of which it was able to recycle.

“This face-to-face engagement provided the opportunity to connect directly with attendees, uncovering valuable insights into consumer perspectives on waste and witnessing first-hand how different packaging types were received,” Stobie and Hooper say.

RFID or QR code data, meanwhile, can help brands collect consumer feedback and help determine if there any issues or improvements that would make recycling or reusing packaging easier or more instinctive, they indicate.

“From the desire to reduce the environmental impact of the events industry and increasing consumer demand for sustainable brands and products to the opportunity to use event platforms to innovate, collaborate, trial new ideas and concepts and promote innovations, it’s clear there’s never been a better time to explore options for connected packaging at sustainable events," the co-authors conclude.