Did you know the average conference attendee averages around 61 pounds of waste a day?! With TENWEST occurring over 10 days and expecting thousands of attendees, that really adds up. In our mission to continue to make an impact, the TENWEST Festival team decided it’s time to get Waste Conscious!
We are thrilled to announce that TENWEST is moving towards becoming a zero waste festival thanks to our sustainability sponsor Cox Conserves and Cox Enterprise. Together with our partners and sponsors, TENWEST will be rethinking the operations of the festival to be zero waste and inviting guests to start practicing mindfulness when it comes to their own waste.
From the operations side, becoming a zero waste festival means making a lot of tiny changes to the way we run the festival day-to-day to meet our sustainability goals. Check out what we’re doing in 2019:
- Working with the Tucson Convention Center to combat food waste by composting and donating leftover food to local food banks
- Reducing the use of single use plastics by serving food and beverages in reusable serveware and using recyclable serveware when resusable is not an option
- Eliminating the use of any bottled water and replacing with refillable bottles and water stations
- Reducing the amount of non-reusable festival swag by communicating with all vendors to be thoughtful about what items they bring and discouraging them from throw away or one time use items
- Converting all TENWEST swag to reusable and sustainably sourced products
- Creating waste collection stations with properly labeled bins for trash and recycling
- Staffing volunteers that can assist attendees with waste collection and sorting
- Using an entirely digital ticket and registration platform to reduce printing and paper usage
- Communicating with speakers to limit the number of handouts and print on recycled paper to reduce overall waste
- Using digital screens to display schedule to reduce program printing
- Working with the leadership team at Cox Conserves to set attainable goals based on sustainability best practices
- Partnering with Cero Waste Pop-Up Market to support attendees on-site
It also means asking our attendees to be more waste conscious while they are in attendance at the festival. Attendees can follow these tips and tricks to help us meet our sustainability goals:
- Bring a reusable water bottle and coffee mug to limit the amount of single use plastics
- Reduce your carbon footprint and catch a ride to the festival on Tucson’s very own streetcar, with a friend, or ride your bike!
- Make yourself aware of what can and cannot be recycled and use the labeled bins
- Take advantage of our digital schedule and materials instead of printing your own
- Only take the swag you really want. Many sponsors and partners will have fun swag throughout the event, but if you don’t see yourself actually using it, don’t take it!
We believe we can be a zero waste festival and thank you for your support in helping us achieve these goals!
Special thank you our Sustainability Sponsor Cox Conserves.
