As we all know, Queen Elizabeth II has just been celebrating her 70th year on the throne, with all sorts of big and bold events happening all over the country to mark the Platinum Jubilee. 

Of course, we’re never ones to shy away from a good time and it was lovely to have an extra-long Bank Holiday, but at what cost did all this actually come in terms of the amount of waste created?

Mark Hall, founder of waste collection company Divert, has estimated that food waste from the last few days will likely surpass that seen across an average Christmas week - which is more than seven million tonnes of food.

In addition, huge amounts of bunting and other festival ephemera is expected to be thrown away this week - even though it could potentially be used for other celebrations in the future.

Mr Hall was quoted by HR News as saying: “And the trouble with that is that much of it is single use plastic. And that means dumping millions of Union Flags in landfill. Hardly the patriotic image that we want to see. There’s the World Cup coming up later this year… and you never know.”

With all this in mind, you might be inspired to make sure that the next party you decide to throw is as zero waste as you can possibly achieve. To help, here are a few top tips from the team here at Ethika.

Think digital

We’re lucky enough to live in the 21st century, which means we have a lot of technology at our fingertips. Why not make excellent use of this to reduce the amount of waste you create and send out digital invitations and save the dates, driving down the amount of paper waste associated with your party.

Think natural with the decorations

One of the biggest waste streams when holding a party or similar event is, of course, the decorations. But you can get around this by using flowers and foliage as a truly beautiful alternative. Veggies and fruit also look very attractive and can be used to great effect as decorative items… as well as being very tasty into the bargain!

Go local

When it comes to food and drink, shop as locally as you can, using local producers and suppliers, so that you can drive down the carbon footprint of your menu. Eating seasonally is another great way of helping to reduce the environmental imprint of what you plan to serve your guests.

Set up a compost bin

To help reduce food waste at the end of your party, set up a compost bin on site so that your guests have somewhere to scrape their plates into. This can then be used on the garden, helping your plants to flourish and grow.

Looking for zero waste gifts? See what we have in stock today.