Following the election on 4 July which saw the labour party win a majority in parliament, one of the UK’s most sustainable events venues, 15Hatfields, has put out a call for legislators to enact ‘bold, long-term policies’ that will create real change for sustainability within the events sector.
Warren Campbell, 15Hatfields’ general manager, has urged the government to pursue official policies that help the business meetings and event sector meet their sustainability targets. He said: ‘The government needs to be more ambitious with its legislation and targets as unfortunately we won’t affect change, unless it comes into law.'
Cambell proposes there are three areas it needs to focus on that will help businesses reduce their impact and reach net zero. The first is waste management, which he explains can be improved by encouraging companies to re-use and recycle as much as possible. He also cites the eradication of single-use plastics as a key marker of performance.
'Let’s be bold and ban single-use packaging and instead introduce innovative and all-encompassing deposit return schemes to incentivise the return and recycling of packaging, materials and particularly glass beverage containers. This will reduce waste to landfill and incineration plants and increase recycling rates', he says.
A switch to greener, eco-friendly energy sources was also cited by Campbell as an important step. He explains that the country should be ‘investing in a nationalised green power company to champion and drive the transition to greener energy and renewables such as wind, solar and hydro power.’
The final piece in the puzzle, he explains, is to invest in the people running these businesses. ‘The hospitality industry still has a major shortage of staff – venues and operators are all struggling.’
‘For our sector to be sustainable and for business to grow we need a change in the UK’s visa application process to allow those who would like to work in the UK the opportunity to do so. Like many hospitality operators we are heavily reliant on agency staff because we are struggling to recruit.’
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