A Mobile Sustainability Kit is a portable, self-contained set of tools and materials intended to help event planners produce low or zero waste events, particularly in areas or venues with limited recycling and composting infrastructure. Although the prevailing wisdom is that only states with more stringent environmental laws provide the necessary networks to support creating sustainable events, the reality is that the infrastructure for organics composting and material reclamation exists in every state.
Providing a Mobile Sustainability Kit allows you to create your own sustainability infrastructure at off-the-grid event sites like remote festivals (think Burning Man/Coachella), pop-up markets, rural fairs, corporate retreats, or stadium events.
What is in a Mobile Sustainability Kit?
Waste management supplies, sorting and tracking tools, backhaul and transport supplies, and volunteer and attendee engagement materials forge the cornerstone of your kit.
Waste Management Supplies:
- Color-coded bins: each station should have three bins, one black for trash, one blue for recycling, and one green for compost and organics. Bins that are fully colored stand out and make clear what each are intended for, but at the very least, labelling each bin with international symbols for trash, compost and recycling make it clear what should be discarded where. Some sorting may be more granular for non-food waste related waste with blue for cans/bottles, green for paper and cardboard waste, red for plastic and black for everything else. If your event anticipates waste that might be hazardous to a landfill, such as electronic waste, orange is the proper color with specific labelling as it is more rare to see this kind of bin and not everyone in the general public would understand its purpose. Always make sure than any electronic waste is handled and disposed of separately in accordance with local laws. Batteries and other electronics components leach arsenic and lead and other toxic compounds into the soil and waterways.
- Clear weatherproof signage in visual language that indicates what items should be disposed of where.
- Trash grabbers and gloves for proper sorting.
- Black liners for trash, blue or clear for recycling, and green for compost. Although companies are now manufacturing bioplastic compostable liners, keep in mind that this technology is new and imperfect. In addition to the fact that compostable liners are often thin and rip easily (which is not ideal for organics which tend to be denser and heavier than most other categories of waste), bioplastics tend to gum up commercial sorting and recycling machinery and are not truly compostable as-of-yet. However, having different colored liners makes it easier for staff to know which bags came from what bins as they are being removed and sorted to dumpsters.
Sorting & Tracking Tools:
- Digital scales can help you weigh waste if you are tracking your diversion rate for post-event evaluation, and to help create benchmarks for future events.
- QR codes that link waste sorting guides to digital signage so that any guest can scan the QR code and find out if they are using the correct bin. This is most useful for plastics recycling as there are many rules about which plastics are recyclable and which are not.
- Audit forms are useful to document what materials are being used and which ones are being wasted. This is most practical if this is an annual event and you want to educate yourself on where you could cut costs and unnecessary waste.
Backhaul & Transport Supplies
- Food-grade containers for food recovery are mandatory for both hot and cold food donation. These containers should close securely to prevent any kind of insect or vermin contamination and should be made of materials that don’t collapse while carrying food.
- Bags or bins to haul compost and recycling off-site. In rural areas, finding smaller mom-and-pop companies who recycle scrap metal and glass, or farmers who compost can be a great alternative if the larger haulers like Republic and Waste Management who have the infrastructure for waste sorting are not accessible or in the affordability range.
Volunteer & Attendee Engagement
- Volunteer T-shirts or badges for a designated “Green Team.” This puts your guests on alert that you are taking sustainability seriously and helps get buy-in and compliance.
- Portable banners or signs explaining your sustainability initiatives.
Optional Extras
- Solar powered lights and charging stations for night events.
- Water refill stations for reusable cups and bottles. Advertising pre-event for people to bring their own bottles (BYOB!) and let them know refill stations will be available, is a a great way to make your sustainable goals known and, once again, get guest buy-in.
- If you intend to create a on-site compost pile, investing in a compost thermometer is a useful tool as it will help you gauge microbial activity and let you know if you need to add moisture or increase pile aeration.
Choosing zero-waste service supplies including bamboo or cardboard cutlery and plates, going digital to prevent paper waste, and using non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning products is a great way to round out your sustainable checklist for a greener, less wasteful event footprint.
Moreover, for onsite food vendors who generate used cooking oil waste, look to major players in the UCO recycling business including Mahoney Environmental, DAR PRO Solutions, or smaller companies like Baker Commodities, Mopac, and Grand Natural for post-event service. Google searches for “used cooking oil recycling near me” or “biodiesel recycling” may bring up local businesses who would be happy to monetize your fryer oil.
PopUP CleanUP provides event site cleanup and implements landfill diversion strategies for large-scale events nationwide.
