This year's Botanical Bazaar established a new benchmark for waste management at a public event.  With over 4,500 people on site for 7 hours, careful waste management resulted in less than 7.5% of waste generated being taken landfill.
 
Climate Wave Enterprises was contracted to handle ZERO WASTE management at Botanical Bazaar on 4 August 2019. The aim of a ZERO WASTE event is to minimise the waste going to landfill. All created waste of the event can be reused or recycled. Achieving a ZERO WASTE event requires an effort from all stakeholders involved that include the event management, staff, food vendors, Eco Angels & volunteers as well as the attendees themselves.
 
The Zero Waste management components involved composting and reuse, food vendor engagement, waste education, waste sorting site cleanup and staff engagement. The system put in place is only as good as its Eco Angels, who achieved a stellar 92.59% diversion from landfill and a high level of attendee education. 
 
Results:
  • 561 Litres Recycled 
  • 2440 Litres of compostable material was diverted from landfill and composted at Nerang Community Garden
  • 40 Litres of organic material was diverted from landfill
  • 3 bags of bottles & cans were diverted from recycling, bagged and donated to Gecko Environment Council to be processed through their Container Deposit Scheme system
  • Sunny Buddy solar powered sound system in a wheelie bin provided PA for spruiking
We can still do better with the following recommendations for future events:
 
  • Even though mandatory requirements that all vendors adhere to no single use plastic material and that prior to the event all vendors were contacted by phone and the message reiterated we had a few vendors bring plastic.
  • All food vendors are required to take home their own waste or have a workable system of diverting into separate streams to then be introduced into our onsite system. Some vendors did not adhere to this and dumped rubbish unseparated into our system which increased percentage to landfill.
  • When event attendees bring in their own food & drinks there will always have a higher landfill percentage so security at front gate need to stop foreign material entering the site.
Components of our services 

Composting

The events compostables were taken by Nerang Community Gardenwhich will be layered into their compost system. By using this system, the social & community benefits of this relationship from a sustainable event management perspective far out way the easy alternative. Also this system will reduce the waste cartage & processing costs which can be diverted to the community.
Organics
All food scraps were diverted from landfill and delivered to Freemans Organic Farm in Currumbin Valley. So, if you could show them so love would be appreciated. David Freeman 0438 777 763 freemansorganicfarm@bigpond.com
Food stall engagement
Our high diversion rate from landfill could not have been achieved without cooperation from the food vendors. They were asked to only provide compostable catering materials. 
All food vendors were approached at the beginning of the event and reminded of no single use plastic was to be served. 3 vendors told us they had not read the conditions and were not aware and were guilt od serving plastic until our Angels picked it up at the Zero Waste Station and were visited and asked to refrain from distributing. The Zero Waste policy was not adhered to therefore their waste contaminated our system which took longer to sort. Contamination rate was kept at a minimal level thanks to the vigilance of our Eco Angels.
Waste education
Ideally every waste station at a ZERO WASTE event should have an Eco Angel that can guide people with proper waste disposal and local waste station sorting, so contamination of bins won’t occur and saves time sorting. The level of waste education was high with attendees very open to learn & appreciate what we were trying to achieve. 
Event attendees are a captured audience who can be educated on waste, reuse and recycling which is extremely beneficial in the war on waste and they will share this directly into networks in other communities which will bring greater awareness of sustainable events and waste reduction. 
Waste sorting
The sorting of refuse was done at the waste station by Eco Angels and then at the sorting area to make sure a pure product was being delivered to Nerang Community Garden.
Site Clean up
Our Eco Angels patrolled the site and picked up any discarded refuse to maintain a clean site and not to encourage others to discard.
Eco Angels
We received great feedback from the public for our Eco Angels as they found purpose and challenges to waste education. And all learned about waste issues during this event which they will take home to family & friends. 
Botanical Bazaar
As Botanical Bazaar contracted CWE to achieve their Zero Waste goals it is clear that staff value sustainable event management and waste systems. There is an opportunity to do so behind the scenes as well in order to support the cause and accept and implement our SEM Policy next time and have all staff involved in the process. This makes achieving ZERO WASTE more credible for everyone. 
 
Thanks to:
Botanical Bazaar staff & volunteers
Eco Angels
Nerang Community Gardens
Freemans Organic Farm
 
Climate Wave Enterprises once again thanks Botanical Bazaar for the opportunity and would welcome further discussion on recommendations with in this document and further sustainable event management systems that may be undertaken