In 2018, Hale Events supported Final Straw Cornwall at the Expowest Cornwall trade show. Final Straw Cornwall is a campaign to rid Cornwall of single-use plastic straws and raise awareness of the damage single-use plastics are causing to the environment. The campaign ran a Straw Amnesty where businesses visiting the show could bring in old plastic straws. Over the course of the event, around 30,000 straws were collected from a broad cross-section of businesses, such as takeaways, restaurants and hotels, for upcycling.
Inspired by the levels of support for the campaign from so many businesses, organisations and individuals within the Cornish community, Hale Events has decided to aim to go single-use plastic free at all its 2019 trade shows. It will be actively looking for environmentally friendly alternatives to any single-use plastic used at its shows.
As well as no longer using plastic carrier bags, Hale Events is planning to stop using plastic wallets for exhibitor and visitor badges, which tend to be only used once and then thrown away. It has come up with innovative solutions for 2019 that enable exhibitors and visitors to pre-print badges or collect them on arrival and then use completely recyclable badge clips to fix them to clothing or bags, avoiding the need for wallets.
Hale Events also works closely with event caterers to remove single-use plastic from its offerings. At Expowest Cornwall, Truro & Penwith College, the event caterers, introduced a wave of environmental improvements and initiatives aimed at reducing single-use plastics and creating a cleaner environment for Cornwall. It has removed single-use plastics from the restaurant, and replaced them with compostable paper cups, biodegradable takeaway containers and cutlery. It also stocks resealable cans of water, made from aluminium, which are 100 per cent recyclable, instead of plastic water bottles.
Hale Events will also be working with event exhibitors, suppliers and contractors to help minimise the plastic waste brought to its trade shows by other organisations.
For more information about Hale Events and their trade shows, please visit hale-events.com or call 01934 733433. For more information about Final Straw Cornwall visit www.finalstrawcornwall.co.uk.
Posted: 11 July 2018
