Whether it’s food and music festivals or conferences and seminars, whenever we hold an event waste is inevitably created. All to often, the packaging and food scraps left behind end up heading to landfill – even if they could have been composted or recycled instead.
But it doesn’t have to be this way – and local Port Macquarie business Doppio Or Nothing Espresso (DONE) have set out to prove that holding a zero waste to landfill event is possible even if the local composting infrastructure is lacking. Here’s how they got it done.
Founded by Stewart Clark in 2004, Doppio or Nothing Espresso are known for their innovative and solutions-focussed approach to business. Never ones to walk away from a challenge, Stewart has been pioneering sustainable business practices on the mid-north coast of New South Wales from their headquarters in Port Macquarie.
Leading by example, they’ve built a successful and sustainable business and now offer events and consulting services to brands that are seeking not just to be the best in the world, but the best for the world.
After learning that a local food festival was sending BioPak compostable packaging to landfill, founder Stewart Clark set about finding solutions that would mitigate any negative effects on the environment.
Getting industrially compostable packaging composted locally, most people would say it’s not possible. But Doppio or Nothing is all about getting it done and quickly sought available solutions, such as Newcastle waste collection service The Green Helping Hand who worked with Stew to get the organic waste to his industrial compost facility in Newcastle. Doppio or Nothing also collaborated with local business Port Plastics and Tooling who got creative and turned any bioplastic (PLA) packaging into bottle openers.
In April this year, the Doppio or Nothing Espresso team held a zero waste to landfill event in Port Macquarie using entirely BioPak compostable packaging. The goal of the event was to educate local businesses and demonstrate that it’s entirely possible to host a great event without negative environmental impacts.
Doppio or Nothing Espresso supplied all of the industrially compostable Biopak products to the vendors and partnered with John Moore from Green Helping Hand to collect the waste after the event and had it back in Newcastle at the composting facility within 12 hours of the event finishing. Getting it done and in record time.
“I know it is a slow process to educate and change thinking on single-use products, but we have to start somewhere. if we move a millimetre a day in the right direction, we are heading in the right direction.”
— Stewart Clark, Founder Doppio or Nothing Espresso
When it comes to hosting a zero-waste event educating early is the key. Follow these tips or download our guide to hosting a zero-waste event for more information:
Go beyond zero waste to landfill by offering attendees the option to offset the carbon emissions associated with their attendance at the event. BioPak’s compostable carbon neutral packaging is already a great first step.
