By Tash Miller, Head of Events, White Label Creative

Last year, I was delighted to share news that our agency had outlined its new Sustainability Policy, focussing on what we can do collectively as a business to become greener, stay accountable through regularly auditing our improvements, as well as establishing a standard by which we measure our progress and achievements.

The White Label Sustainability Policy has allowed us to pull focus on environmental issues, a subject we are truly passionate about. Our core aim has been that embedding this ethos into the heart of our agency will not only allow us to make an impact personally, but also trickle down into the work we do to support our clients – future-proofing their own businesses, through the provision of sustainable and greener materials, systems and processes.

As part of our end of year review, we wanted to share 10 of our top achievements and the ‘green improvements’ we’ve made throughout 2022:

1. Moved from printed event brochures/programmes to interactive programmes for our conferences and awards including the Southwark Business Excellence Awards, Essex Housing Awards and Building Garden Communities Conference..
2. Consciously picked venues more accessible via public transport.
3. Used a solar powered stage at the 2022 Croydon Food & Music Festival.
4. Liaised with venues, caterers and suppliers about their sustainability policies and sustainable menu options for events including Capital West London conference and Barwell Business Breakfast.
5. Used local event suppliers to improve our carbon footprint – eight suppliers at the Croydon Business Excellence awards were located within the borough of Croydon.
6. Swapped previously printed branded items for digital assets, through the use of screens and interactive projections. Examples include table plans on screens at events and information sent in joining emails instead of one-use, printed artwork. Any essential print materials were swapped for 100% recyclable ones.
7. Ensured sustainability was a focus topic at all our own events from Last Mile conference to Develop Croydon Conference – both within the programme (panels debates and keynotes) and by promoting our sustainable changes pre and during events.
8. Continued hybrid working which greatly reduces individual carbon footprints from staff commutes.
9. Became more eco-friendly with our travel – using public transport over individual car travel, use of hybrid & electric vehicles (including couriers for events) and choosing virtual meetings over in-person to reduce the need for travel altogether.
10. Made more sustainable choices when purchasing office/event supplies, including biodegradable decorations, eco-friendly tape, rechargeable batteries and hiring items rather than buying.

I’m incredibly proud of our team’s improvements this past year and am reassured that as a business, we are committed to becoming more sustainable the more we grow.

As we look to the year ahead, our aim will be to continue harnessing the awareness of our personal impact to drive positive change. We believe taking care of the environment is everyone’s responsibility including all of our staff and clients.

So, in the spirit of togetherness, we challenge you to do the same – whether this be a small change like turning the brightness down on your monitor or by going completely plastic free as a business. We can all play our part now, there’s no planet b.

Let us know how you’ve made changes in your homes and offices, and I look forward to sharing more on what we’ve achieved in 2023 later in the year.