IN-Book offers recycling resources for event organizers

During the summer, Indiana hosts numerous festivals, outdoor concerts and sporting events.

These attractions generate large crowds and hundreds of pounds of trash and food containers that could end up in a landfill.

The Indianapolis Event Waste Guide is an environmentally focused publication with resources and contact information for nonprofits and vendors looking to reduce waste.

Julia Spangler, owner of Ecosystems Events, said the release is intended for events attended by a dozen or thousands of people.

“When you bring people together, especially when you’re entertaining or decorating, you often create waste,” Spangler said. “So this guide is first about how to reduce waste in the first place, and then how to keep that waste out of the landfill.”

Spangler described the publication as a “one-stop shop starting point” for recycling or composting food, waste, leftover lanyards or banners.

In 2021, Indiana collected more than nine million tons of garbage, trash, office waste and other similar materials.

The Indianapolis Event Waste Guide was released to coincide with the U.S. Olympic Swimming Qualifiers held in Indianapolis last month.

As the state continues to attract large crowds to amateur and professional sports competitions, event planners are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint.

Lyndsay Trameri, community manager at Sustain Indy and community engagement manager at the City of Indianapolis’ Office of Sustainability, noted that the guide is aimed at residents and organizers from outside the city.

“Just because you’re planning an event in your hometown,” says Trameri, “doesn’t mean you know all the different local contacts and organizations that can help you reduce your carbon footprint.”

Trameri added that city officials have a plan to make Indianapolis emissions-free by 2050. Trameri said you can download the free guidebook on the Visit Indy website.