Parties can produce a lot of rubbish, literally speaking. In the name of convenience, we often go with so-called solutions that may make our lives temporarily simpler, but they often create a negative impact on our environment — not to mention our bank accounts over time.
Here are 9 ways you can cut down on the amount of waste you produce at your next party.
1.) Use reusable cutlery and dishes
Ditch the disposables and have reusable cutlery, dishes, and napkins available at your party. Disposables may be convenient, but they consume more resources per use than reusables in their manufacture, transportation, and recycling. Good reusable dinnerware can even last several lifetimes if taken care of.
2.) Have buckets full of soapy water ready
So you’ve decided to use reusable plates and cutlery, but don’t want to be stuck washing dishes while the rest of the party is hopping. You also dread the idea of having mountains of dirty dishes to deal with at the end of the party. You can make things easier for yourself by preparing buckets or other large plastic containers of soapy water for guests to deposit their plates in, after they’ve properly disposed of the food scraps, of course.
Letting the dishes rest a bit in soapy water will not absolve you (or some kind guests and employees you’ve enlisted to help you) of having to wash the dishes, but it will make things much easier and it will let you enjoy the party away from the kitchen sink.
3.) Use reusable bags when buying groceries
There are several parts of the party supply chain where excessive waste can happen, one of them being the bags we use to take our groceries home. If you have tote bags lying around unused, you can use them as grocery bags to cut down your consumption of disposables. Just be sure to use them consistently, as it can take anywhere from 50 to 250 uses of a cloth reusable bag to offset the impact of most plastic ones.
4.) Don’t go overboard on decorations
Keep decorations minimal and simple! Most people don’t really care about the decorations, and they will likely just end up in a landfill anyway.
5.) Set up a separate food waste bin
Have a food waste bin ready near your sink for your guests to dispose of their scraps in before they put their dishes in the soap bucket. You can then later dispose of the scraps in the correct skip bin or consider using the scraps for composting
6.) Consider bokashi composting
If you have a garden or know someone that does, this is well worth considering. Bokashi is a traditional Japanese method of composting food waste that uses bacteria found in bran to create compost with minimal or no odours. It also greatly reduces the greenhouse gas emissions of your food scraps as well as other organic waste. The result is an extremely high-quality fertiliser that some people may even pay a lot of money for!
7.) Don’t prepare or order more food than you can consume and store
With some careful planning, we can reduce the waste we produce simply by not buying more than we need. Use your party budget to purchase smaller quantities of better quality food and drinks rather than on large amounts of forgettable low-quality vittles.
8.) Briefly go over food waste and recycling with your guests or employees
Explaining your waste management preparations can go a long way into ensuring that all the waste is properly segregated, making your life easier. Everyone else may also get some ideas themselves for their own parties. Everybody wins!
9.) Consider renting skip bins
For larger events, you should consider renting skip bins. A skip bin rental company should be able to rent out bins of the appropriate size for the type and amount of rubbish you can expect to create at your party.
“But where do I find a skip bin hire near me?” you might ask.
Well, LocalSkipBinHire.com.au is Australia’s most used skip bin rental comparison site. Simply enter your location and you’ll be in touch with all the nearest skip bin rental services near your location. All you need for a free quote is to fill out a short form, after which you may just be a few minutes away from renting a bin for your party.
What other tips can you share? Feel free to send us your party waste disposal tips.
