Making celebrations sustainable – my side quest

After reading so much about the environment, climate change, waste management, circular living and so on, I believe in undertaking individual acts of change. My father’s decision of throwing a spring brunch party for our friends posed as an interesting challenge of integrating sustainability while organising events.

I recently started exploring sustainable celebrations through an initiative my friends and I launched called “Sustain and Slay“. The brunch party became a perfect opportunity for me to delve into the ground-level complexities of ensuring a planet-friendly event – something which has gotten increasingly difficult.

This article sees planet-friendly events as an evolving process. It aims to document the actions I took, challenges faced, and gaps to be focused upon.

Actions we took

• Using compostable cutlery (the packaging said it was compostable, we’ve put the cutlery in our compost bins and will get to know for sure in a few weeks)
• Using bigger jugs and glasses for water instead of single-use cups/bottles.
• Collecting the ice-creams that we’d bulk-ordered; collected in steel boxes to avoid plastic containers. We served the ice-cream in compostable bowls.
• The menu had several seasonal and freshly cooked items.
• E-invites were circulated and RSVPs collected to ensure optimum quantity of food.

Challenges and Gaps

• The caterers accidently brought a packet of plastic spoons too (which we did not use but the plastic packaging was opened).
• Their ingredients and materials were brought wrapped in plastic packaging.
• I came across an organisation that rents out steel cutlery (glasses and plates) for events. However, the perception towards steel cutlery became a hurdle, where glass was preferred over steel. For this, we borrowed glasses from a neighbour to cater to the number of guests.
• The ice-creams we’d bulk-ordered came from another city, it would have been better if it was locally made.
• Similarly, the compostable bowls we’d ordered from ice-creams had come from another city.
• The menu had several curated drinks for which bottled water and straws had been ordered.
• Tissues were used, alternatives could be thought about.
• Flowers for decor were brought in a plastic bag.

With my family deciding to throw these brunches annually, I wish to annually reflect on how sustainable I can make these events. I think this year was better than the last one – which was consisted of plastic bottles and non-segregated waste. I hope to work on the challenges and gaps, and ensure each year becomes progressively better for the planet.

Here’s to sharing such insights and working collectively to become climate conscious in everything we do.