Right Angle’s 5 Tips for Eco Team Building, Activities & Away Days
We’ve created just a few suggestions as to how you can make your team event more eco-friendly! By each doing small things, as an industry we can help to make big changes! Things like recycling and plastic bottles are hopefully already being done, so let’s take it one step further!
Your Venue Choice
We are fortunate enough in the UK & Europe to have some of the most sustainable and eco-friendly venues. Opting to go to one of these venues for your event, will help you massively (you won’t have to think about so much yourself!) 15 Hatfield’s in London is a fantastic example! 15 Hatfield’s is central London’s most sustainable venue, and have all of the credentials to go with it. They have a strict ‘no bottled water’ policy (which has prevented 1 million plastic water bottles ending up in the landfill) and have distributed over 2 million wildflower seeds as part of a campaign to help save the decline of bees in London. They filter their own water on-site and serve to clients in reusable glass bottles. This is just an example of the amazing work venues are doing to help. You can see more of the best UK sustainable venues here.
The Location
Looking at the carbon footprint of your event can really help. Looking at the location of the attendees and how they are going to be getting to the event is very important. Would laying on coaches help to reduce the number of cars on the road, is having the event in the UK going to be better for your carbon footprint than flying delegates overseas? Just thinking about these little things at the initial planning stages will have a great impact on your event. We have a whole host of venues that we work with, to see just a few of them, have a look at our Venues Page!
Choose Your Suppliers Wisely
Working with suppliers who already have a strong environmental/CSR policy will help make your event better, with the lowest amount of effort. Speak with your caterers, activity suppliers, AV company etc and see what they are already doing. Choose eco team building activities and events! If every supplier you work with makes a small contribution, this will add up to a much greater impact. Look for suppliers with accreditations and carbon charters!
Zero Waste
Assess your event’s waste and see how you can reduce this before it even happens! For example, if you are having food and think that there may be leftovers, contact a homeless shelter or charity prior to the event. Venues often provide all guests with pads and pens, are you going to be needing them, or will your attendees have bought their own?
In relation to activities if you are having energisers or team building experience, have you asked your company what waste there will be? How will it be dealt with? Do you have any options to reduce the waste from the activity/more eco-friendly options?
Incentivise Your Guests/Delegates
Get the attendees to help! This one is definitely a “power in numbers”. Incentivise your guests to do things like bringing their own coffee mugs, a reward for cycling to the event or life sharing (reducing CO2 emissions). If you can email information to your guests on the day, this can help with the reduction of printed materials!
These are just a few of the small ways you can make your away day and team event more eco-friendly! We’d absolutely love to hear suggestions and ideas that you have, and can’t wait to work with you on your next eco team building event. In addition to more eco events, we offer charity experiences too!
