International Day of Zero Waste

Within the Arts and Cultural sector, many streams of consumption and production are contributing to the global waste problem. The existing model of consumption typically sources new materials, creates a product (producing packaging and offcut waste in the process), and this product is disposed of at the end of its life. The concept of Zero Waste challenges this model through the belief that the wasted materials still have value or were unnecessarily consumed (packaging, for example). 

In the UK, general waste is disposed of through landfill sites, incineration, and energy recovery. This results in annual emissions estimated at 19.2 million metric tons of CO2e*, approximately 5 – 6% of the UK’s total annual emissions. One of the greenhouse gases emitted by landfills is methane, which has catastrophic effects contributing to global warming. Other impacts of our waste include: 

• Soil contamination
• Water contamination
• Air pollution
• Habitat destruction 

* 0.05 (forecast percentage of total emissions produced by landfill waste in the UK in 2023) x 348.2MtCO2e (forecast total annual UK emissions 2023, UK GOV 2023 greenhouse gas provisional report) 

Soil air and water all contribute to a healthy environment but the effects of landfill are threatening the quality of these, leading to a lack of biodiversity and poor human health.. Waste management alone will not solve this problem, consumption habits must also change to decrease the strain that we are putting on our planet’s natural resources. 

Models like the Waste Hierarchy and Circular Economy demonstrate how we can significantly reduce the materials that result in landfill waste through actions such as: 

• Prevention
• Resource sharing
• Sustainable design
• Effective recycling 

Within the creative industries, the intricate network of organisations means we are in an advantageous position to utilise connections and share resources such as costume, props, and event equipment. We can also change our habits by considering the impact that our unavoidable waste has, for example using alternatives to paints or cleaning products that are not harmful to wildlife and human health. 

Here are some tips for avoiding waste at creative events and workshops: 

• Use natural pigments as paints, some you may already have in your kitchen include tea, coffee, and beetroot, or you could try other exciting ingredients like green/​blue spirulina, chlorella, or charcoal.
• Use recycled and recyclable paper from brands that are transparent about their supply chain and ethics
• Try material-less creative workshops that explore storytelling, singing, dance and other performing arts
• Create a plan for how the waste and materials from your project will be managed before the project is delivered 

In the words of Anne Marie Bonneau, ​“We don’t need a handful of people doing zero waste perfectly, we need millions of people doing it imperfectly”.

At Artswork, our imperfect zero waste habits include: 

• Encouraging attendees to bring reusable bottles to our events 
• Encouraging attendees at our events to bring containers to take home left-over food 
• Transitioning to recycled and recyclable materials 
• Transitioning to biodegradable and natural alternatives to plastics 
• Transitioning to fully transparent and ethical suppliers and eliminating unethical businesses from our supply chain 
• Informing freelance artists and suppliers about our ethical and sustainable procurement practices 

We will continue to work with our team, and consult environmental sustainability experts to develop our practices through our Environmental Action Plan and Ethical Procurement Guidelines.