Waste management at festivals and events

Event organizers are responsible for managing waste at their event. Identifying ways to reduce waste and careful site planning are keys to success. Effective waste management practices are part of being a good neighbour by helping to reduce litter in the community where your event is taking place.

Volunteers may be an integral part of managing waste at the event by clearing out full bins and helping attendees sort their waste correctly. Some event organizers may also need to contract a private hauler to collect, sort and remove garbage, recycling and compost from the event site.

Managing waste on site

Tip Sheet for ideas about how to reduce waste at your event.
Timeline Checklist to keep track of all the different activities associated with planning a zero-waste event.
Food Vendor Memo Template to encourage food vendors to comply with your waste reduction initiatives.
Volunteer Recruitment Template to find volunteers that can assist with waste diversion activities on event day.
Waste & Recycling Pocket Guide to help volunteers guide event attendees about what waste goes where.

Site planning

The big picture

If applicable, review last year’s waste, recycling and compost site plan.
Think about the volume and types of waste that will be generated at your event.
How will your waste management team function? Do you have a leader who is responsible for planning and operations?
Is there a training program in place for seamless delivery of your plan?
Determine if volunteers can be used or if you need to hire a hauler to help manage this waste. Available service levels could include managing waste at the waste stations, back of house (roll-off bins) and removing the waste from the site.
Want to learn more? Request an education session from a City waste and recycling specialist

Site set-up

Carefully think through the location of the waste stations. Consider placing bins in these areas:
- In high traffic zones.
- Where waste is most likely to be produced (e.g., near food vending stations or eating areas).
- Near any closed off garbage bins – this helps to discourage their use.
- Where bins would normally be found at the event venue.
Provide garbage, recycling and compost bins at each waste station and colour code to provide a visual cue for what goes where.
- Add signage to the bins to remind users what goes where.
- Considered placing ambassadors at your bins to inform attendees on what goes where.
- Provide extra bags at each waste station and change bags out frequently to avoid heavy loads and overflowing bins.
Develop a plan to manage the full bins during your event.
- Are the bins accessible to be emptied during the event?
- Plan for how you will transport full bags to the roll-off bins for the hauler to pick up. Will you use golf carts or hand carts? Do you have safe practices in place for volunteers of various abilities?
Remove or close off any garbage bins on site that are not part of the event’s official waste stations.
Determine where roll-off bins and back of house sorting (if applicable) will be placed. Ideally this will be away from public areas and easily accessible by the service provider for drop off and pick up. A hard surface is preferred to minimize damage to the site.

Site take-down

Assist peripheral teams with strike down to ensure waste is still separated.
Prepare for next year’s event by debriefing and documenting lessons learned and recommendations for next year; include all appropriate stakeholders in this process.
Ensure carts/bins are collected and set out for service provider pickup.
Clean up any remaining litter from the site.

Directory for festival and event organizers

A waste hauler can collect, sort and/or remove garbage, recycling and compost from the event site. Some haulers can also provide a food recovery service to help re-direct surplus edible food to charities and non-profits in Calgary.

Choosing the right hauler for your festival or event makes a big difference in the success of your waste management plan. Your relationship with them will play a key role in designing and implementing a plan that is simple and easy for your attendees, volunteers and vendors to use.

Use the directory list below to find a company that provides the waste services you need for your festival or event.

You can then visit the company website for contact and specific information.

Not listed?

If you are a waste hauler in Calgary and are not listed in the directory, find incorrect information, or have questions, submit a service request.

Directory search tool

Service type

Leftovers

Services provided:

Coordination of surplus food donation

Website: Leftovers

Tips for hiring a waste hauler

There are a lot of considerations when choosing a hauler for your festival or event.

When setting up a new service, you can negotiate service level, frequency and cost as rates are not set by The City.

Below are some questions to consider when talking to a prospective hauling company.

About the company

What types of festivals and/or events do you serve or specialize in?
Will you provide a contract? May I see a sample?
What will the service cost?
How will I be invoiced?
Will you help determine how many bins the event requires and placement of the bins?

About the service

Do you collect all of the materials that the bylaw requires for recycling, compost, and garbage?
Do you collect other items beyond this list? (e.g., certified compostable food ware, coffee cups, hazardous waste, cash recyclables).
What kind of bin options do you offer for attendees? Vendors?
Do you provide food waste containers (e.g. kitchen pails) for food vendors?
Do you provide bin liners for the containers?
Do you have roll-off bin service? If space is limited for roll-off bins, what are some alternative options?
Do you rely on attendees/volunteers to sort items at waste stations? Or do you sort the waste back of house?
Do you have staff who can monitor and service the waste stations? Empty the waste stations into the roll-off bins?
Where do you take the compost after you pick it up? Where do you take the recycling?
How will the material be picked up? When will the material be picked up?
Do you work on weekends and evenings?
Will there be a local contact to reach out to if any issues arise?
How often will you collect the material?
Will you offer information on our festival/events diversion rates?

Additional services

Will you provide signs or other support (presentations or training) to help volunteers, food vendors, and attendees?
Do you provide event consulting services?
Do you provide post event site cleaning services?

Tips for donating surplus edible food

Below are some questions and tips to consider when determining how to donate surplus edible food from your festival or event and work with a surplus food rescue organization.

About the service

Will event staff/volunteers be the on-site leads for collecting the food or will the surplus food rescue organization need to provide staff or volunteers to collect the food?
What type of food is likely to be available (dry, cooler, freezer, hot held) and when and how does it need to be collected? Will food need to be collected during event teardown? Is there on-site storage for dry, cooler, and/or frozen product that can be picked up after event teardown (i.e., morning after event instead of the evening of teardown)?
What packaging materials will be needed (e.g., gaylords, crates, boxes, pallets, plastic wrap, etc.)? Consider collecting leftover boxes from vendors where appropriate. These boxes are often broken down and recycled during setup or teardown when they could be reused for food collection.
What infrastructure and equipment will be available on-site to assist the food collection vs. what will the surplus food rescue organization need to provide themselves (e.g., dock-level truck vs. truck with liftgate, forklifts, hand truck/dollies, pump truck/pallet jacks)?
If there’s a marshalling yard for coordinating shipping/receiving for an event, consider allowing the surplus food rescue organization vehicle(s) priority access ahead of the end of the event (or whenever food collection is scheduled to happen) to get ready on-site ahead of the food collection.
Event organizers will often want to send a thank-you communication to vendors and attendees highlighting the success of the event, including the positive impact of food donations. Establish clear expectations with your surplus food rescue organization before the event on the turn-around time needed to report on key metrics from the food collection (e.g., pounds by food category, meals provided, greenhouse gas emissions averted, etc.).
If surplus food donations are being collected directly from the vendors by event staff or volunteers, consider distributing brightly coloured stickers in advance of the collection to clearly label product that can be collected from the booth/station for donation.

Resources and signage

The Circular Economy Grant program provides $5,000-$25,000 in funding for non-profit organizations, including festival and event organizers, to support community-based actions that help Calgary move to a circular economy.

Eligible projects include developing and implementing communications and on-site education initiatives to encourage partners, vendors and attendees to reduce their waste at festivals and events.

Waste signage for event sites

Signs to remind attendees what goes where can help manage waste at the event site and reduce contamination issues.

The signs below help attendees correctly sort the most common waste items found at festivals and events. You can self-print the sign size that best matches the available space on your event site’s waste stations.

Post signs at eye level where possible and consider pointing attendees to the what goes where page if they’re unsure about an item.

Note: These signs are specific to what is accepted in City of Calgary facilities. If your waste hauler is using a private facility for processing, you will have to source signs specific to that facility.