Durham Tourism’s top 10 tips on how to green your event
 Plan ahead: waste is far too often an afterthought. Make it a central part of your planning and a theme of your event. Tell people early, either in your invitation or through your promotional activities, so your guests can make the effort before they arrive.
- Get everyone involved: inform your guests of what going green means, and why you are going green. Let your guests know what they can do to help and provide them with the right resources to make the event greener.
- Reduce: a lot of party treats aren’t much fun when we realize that they will spend the next thousand years in a landfill. Celebrate with a “less is more” philosophy.
- Reuse: rent reusable plates, glasses and cutlery, or buy your own reusable set. Consider using paper plates that are compostable, instead of Styrofoam, plastic or wax-coated plates and cups, which aren’t recyclable or compostable.
- Recycle: provide recycling and composting bins in high-traffic areas. Have them monitored by volunteers or post signage to ensure proper disposal. Put garbage bins only where absolutely necessary.
- Buy local: local food, drinks, supplies and gifts add unique touches to the event and cut back on the carbon footprint.
- Good design: there are a lot of resources in the community that can help you when planning a larger scale event. Many companies are eager to associate their names with green events, so consider asking them to sponsor your efforts.
- Set goals: chronicle the improvements you make each year and aim to make each event you hold better than the last!
- Involve the kids: they know more about this topic than you might think, so harness their energy and create a learning moment.
- Make it fun: is there anything better than good, clean, green fun?
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