Green Guardians: Food & Drink
The Green Guardians Guide, spearheaded by the Green Events and Innovations Conference (GEI) and IQ Magazine, is a new yearly initiative boosting the profiles of those working at the forefront of sustainability, in the hope that it might also inspire others.
The 2021 list, which originally ran in IQ 103, includes 40 entries across eight categories, highlighting some of the organisations and individuals who are working so tirelessly to reduce the carbon footprint of the live entertainment business.
This year’s winners have been chosen by a judging panel that includes experts from A Greener Festival, Greener Events, Julie’s Bicycle, the Sustainability in Production Alliance, the Sustainable Event Council and the Tour Production Group.
IQ will publish entries across all categories over the coming weeks. Catch up on the previous instalment of the Green Guardians Guide which looks at event infrastructure.
8th plate
Four hundred tonnes of food is thrown away at UK festivals every year, this means 953,352 meals go to waste. With one tonne of waste equal to four tons of CO2, 8th Plate was founded to tackle this challenge.
Combating food waste is extremely important, not only because of the environmental impact, but because there are people in the UK forced to get food from food banks. 8th Plate’s aim is to help prevent food waste, and this has been welcomed by the events and catering communities alike.
NCASS (The Nationwide Caterers Association), who support small independent food and drink businesses across the UK, teamed up with A Greener Festival to find a solution to food waste at events, food markets and festivals.
They work with festivals, events, and street food businesses to redirect food to charities such as Open Kitchen, Fare Share and Refresh, who ensure that the food is given to people who need it.
In order to make sure 8th Plate itself is a sustainable initiative, the team train festival and event teams to work alongside ambassadors who, with the support from NCASS and A Greener Festival, deliver the initiative in-house and train future ambassadors in the process.
Pre-pandemic, in 2019 alone, 8th Plate salvaged 18 tonnes of food; the equivalent of 42,560 meals, across 11 festivals. Imagine what could be achieved if this was replicated across the whole industry.
Le Festif has also has ceased sales of merchandise such as t-shirts and hoodies to further reduce its carbon footprint
Le Festif!
Le Festif! is recognised in Quebec, Canada, as a pioneer and leader in environmentally sustainable festivals.
The event’s strategy for food and drink is simple but admirable. For alcohol, everything is 100% local, be it craft beer and cider, or wine, vodka and gin. And organisers take a similar approach to catering, as the food for the artists, the staff and the participants is also sourced from local producers.
As part of its sustainability drive, the festival has also stopped selling bottles of water by building free water stations; cigarette ends are recycled; the festival relies on bulk food orders for catering to eliminate plastic waste; no promotional paper is used; a tree planting programme compensates for carbon emissions; and it has ceased sales of merchandise such as t-shirts and hoodies to further reduce its carbon footprint.
“A food waste project [that started at] Roskilde has resulted in the delivery 7m + meals to socially vulnerable citizens”
Det Runde Bord
Due to Covid, Det Runde Bord has been unable to attend festivals and events to collect and distribute surplus food, as it normally does, but it has still used its experience and network to help deliver food to socially vulnerable citizens in Denmark.
When the country locked down, hundreds of canteens and restaurants also locked down. Meanwhile, food wholesalers were unable to find buyers for huge quantities of produce. So, charity Det Runde Bord stepped in, collecting and distributing between 3-5 tonnes of surplus food daily, feeding socially vulnerable fellow citizens including addicts and the mentally ill.
In the weeks after lockdown, the organisation and its partners delivered fresh produce corresponding to 1 million meals at a value of more than €2 million.
When organisers learned that Denmark’s soup kitchens had all been closed due to the danger of Covid infection, they launched The Necessary Food Club in a shuttered restaurant, before moving to a huge production kitchen, where between 300 and 1,100 single-packed meals could be prepared every day.
“Imagine that a food waste project [that started at] Roskilde Festival in 2014 has resulted in the delivery of more than 7 million meals to socially vulnerable citizens in Denmark, in addition to being an inspiration to people and organisations around the world,” says Det Runde Bord’s Peter Haugelund. “I am very proud, especially of the more than 500 fantastic volunteers who have made an effort far beyond expectations.”
“If you change conditions, you change behaviour! Your guests will act sustainably, when sustainability is the standard”
Tollwood Festival
Tollwood Festival unites a zest for life, an enjoyment of culture, and a commitment to a tolerant, peaceful and sustainable world. Since the first festival in 1988, ecological and social commitment has formed the way the festival thinks and acts, and its key focus is to keep its carbon footprint as small as possible.
Tollwood is known for its international gastronomy, which is provided by around 50 restaurateurs. Since 2003, the festival’s catering has been certified in accordance with EU organic council regulation.
This means that the event’s visitors can enjoy a diverse selection of 100% organic, vegetarian and vegan food from 20 or so nations. This dedication to organic, plant-based cuisine saves the festival 116 tonnes of CO2 per year.
As a leader in its field, Tollwood is often contacted by other festivals and venues requesting information about its return-able system and waste sorting systems.
“If you change conditions, you change behaviour! Your guests will act sustainably, when sustainability is the standard. It’s your turn, it’s your responsibility, act now!”
“We are really optimistic about the future of reusable cups”
Stack Cup
Despite the pandemic, the team at Stack-Cup has continued its mission to reduce single-use plastic and replace it with the company’s unique reusable cups.
The company has launched the Stack-Flute in the UK and Europe, as well as expanding its reach internationally, and improving its service. Stack-Flute has a unique, patented design, which was successfully launched at Pub in the Park with Slurp and We Are Quantum. The flutes are washed and re-used at each event.
Meanwhile, Stack-Cup has made its debut in Australia and New Zealand with the launch of a cup hire and washing service that is expanding rapidly from the company’s base in Adelaide.
Finally, the organisation has focussed on how it serves and communicates with customers. For example, with pub chain Greene King, it has removed the £1 customer deposit and replaced it with a micro charge, with profits going to the Macmillan Cancer Support charity. This is facilitated through better technology and customer communication.
“We are really optimistic about the future of reusable cups,” says managing director James Roles. “Being more sustainable isn’t optional now but a necessity, and we are fortunate to have built up a decade of experience in running reusable cup programmes. We recognise that partnerships are key to success and our aim for 2022 is to cement transformative relationships with partners that care as much as we do. Actions speak louder than words.”
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Green Guardians: Food and Beverage
The Green Guardians Guide, spearheaded by the Green Events and Innovations Conference and IQ Magazine, is a new yearly iniative highlighting some of the work being done around the world to reduce the carbon footprint of the live entertainment business.
The inaugural list features 60 entries across ten categories, selected by the Green Guardians committes, which includes representatives from some of the sector’s most respected bodies, such as A Greener Festival, Go Group, Green Music Initiative, Julie’s Bicycle and Vision:2025.
Following on from last week’s feature on organisations conducting ethical and sustainable staffing and personnel practices, this edition of Green Guardians looks at those ensuring we eat and drink in an environmentally friendly way at live events.
Food and beverage
Stack-Cup
Stack-Cup’s vision is to live in a world where consuming is fun, guilt-free and doesn’t destroy the Earth. The team behind Stack-Cup believe that changing consumer behaviour and habits will lead to a better future for our planet.
Stack-Cup’s clients include The O2 (London), The Oval cricket ground (London) and Hong Kong Stadium. All of which had previously used tonnes of single-use plastics every year. However, by partnering with all three venues on the customer experience, cup logistics and washing infrastructure, Stack-Cup was able to implement a circular approach to reusing cups, ensuring that they were returned to the venues time and again.
In each case, there were challenges to overcome, from councils regarding health and safety through to customer deposit programmes. Working with each venue, Stack-Cup continues to fine-tune and improve its service. The company can track its impact by calculating the number of reusable cups, rather than single-use plastics, in venues, which can be articulated both in financial terms and reduction in CO2 emissions. Last year, it removed 14.8 million single-use cups from the economy.
The team behind Stack-Cup believe that changing consumer behaviour and habits will lead to a better future for our planet
The Food Line-up
The Food Line-up was founded in 2012 and is based on the principles of slow food i.e. good, clean and fair. Visiting festivals, the company’s founders became frustrated with the type of food that was being served, mostly by one giant company. They decided it was time food became part of the event line-up, hence the company name, and have been working with specialised chefs to achieve this ever since.
Alongside its main role as “food booker” for large-scale festivals and corporate events, The Food Line-Up has also developed projects such as the circular food-court, together with DGTL Festival; and Brasserie 2050, together with financial services company Rabobank, in the Netherlands. The project aims to address the issue of feeding the world’s rapidly increasing population, which is set to reach almost ten billion by 2050.
The project’s central theme was minimal impact on people, animals and the environment. In addition, all dishes were given an accurate C02 measurement and every dish told the story of a smart technologist, driven farmer or visionary entrepreneur.
The Food Line-up was founded in 2012 and is based on the principles of slow food i.e. good, clean and fair
Øya Festival
Øya Festival uses plates made from wheat bran that is compressed and shaped using steam. The end product is edible and tastes like a very dry biscuit – and has become a favourite amongst beer-thirsty audiences. Uneaten plates can be disposed of alongside food waste, and it is easy for the public to properly source them. Festivalgoers don’t need to scrape food waste off the plates, since food and plates go into the same garbage bin.
The plates are manufactured by Biotrem and are a Polish innovation. They are made from residual products that would otherwise be discarded, and represent a fantastic solution, as they replace a disposable product that would normally be made of single-use plastic.
There are drawbacks, as the plates weigh a lot, both as new products and as part of the festival’s total waste. They also tend to dissolve if left with hot liquid for too long. But all in all, it is a solution Øya is very proud to use, and the carbon footprint is minimal.
Øya Festival uses plates made from wheat bran that is compressed and shaped using steam
Det Runde Bord
Det Runde Bord (DRB) is the food waste partner of Roskilde Festival and many others, and has been spreading its message globally, and inspiring many, since 2014.
The organisation has attended around 100 festivals since its inception, and in total has saved six million meals from ending up as food waste – a significant part of which has come from wholesale food companies and food producers.
As well as food waste, DRB has undertaken a large number of projects relating to the environment involving food for the needy. During the coronavirus pandemic, the organisation was contacted by social workers due to the numerous soup kitchens that were forced to close down. DRB started production within three days, and since the end of March has distributed 500 single packaged meals a day (many thousands in total) to homeless people and drug addicts. The company will continue to do so until these people are in a sound nutritional state.
The organisation has in total has saved six million meals from ending up as food waste
Tollwood Festival
Tollwood Festival unites a zest for life, an enjoyment of culture, and a commitment to a tolerant, peaceful and sustainable world. Since the first festival in 1988, ecological and social commitment has formed the way the festival thinks and acts, and its key focus is to keep its carbon footprint as small as possible.
Tollwood is known for its international gastronomy, which is provided by around 50 restaurateurs, and since 2003, the festival’s catering has been certified in accordance with EU organic council regulation. This means that the event’s visitors can enjoy a diverse selection of 100% organic, vegetarian and vegan food from 20 or so nations. This dedication to organic, plant-based cuisine saves the festival 116 tons of CO2 per year.
As a leader in its field, Tollwood is often contacted by other festivals and venues requesting information about its returnable system and waste sorting systems.
“If you change conditions, you change behaviour! Your guests will act sustainably, when sustainability is the standard. It’s your turn, it’s your responsibility, act now!”
Your guests will act sustainably, when sustainability is the standard
Goodness Gracious Healthy Foods
Prior to starting the business in 1988, company founders Barry and Peter Tiffen, were travelling in South America where they witnessed first hand the destruction being carried
out to primary forests in order to make space for both cattle and palm oil. After seeing the effects this was having on the environment, the brothers set up Goodness Gracious Healthy Foods with the aim of providing healthy food at events and festivals and encouraging people to try a plantbased diet, which is a healthy and more environmentally friendly alternative.
In addition, after realising that very few events provide composting, the Tiffens established a system where they take leftovers to a nearby farmer to be composted.
Keeping busy during the pandemic lockdown, Barry and Peter have been converting a large, overgrown field into an organic allotment, as well as building an eco-house with rainwater harvesting, photovoltaic panels, an air source heat pump and a heat recovery system etc.
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