Thanks to Sir Dave A, sustainability is at the forefront of our minds. We all hope that our small changes pave the way to a more significant difference, especially if the major world players follow suit.
For us, working in the event industry is a real eye-opener as to the amount of waste accumulated, even during a relatively small event. As of 2018 we have tried to improve with paper straws, no throw away napkins, lift-sharing and not leaving appliances running when they aren’t in use etc. Realistically, at best this is just plucking the low bearing fruit, so in 2020 we would like to experiment with bigger and better ways to cut waste and improve our carbon footprint.
Here are a few things for you to consider in 2020 and beyond for your events.
Kegged Cocktails :
Pre-prepared and kegged cocktails are often met with a dismissal of cheap, preservative heavy, uncultured and sweetened products. However, new methods and the rise of the Key Keg (https://www.keykeg.com) have opened a world of crafty artisan flavoured, free-flowing cocktails.
We think they would make a fantastic way to serve arrival drinks for a wedding bar, behind a festival bar or a self-service keg hire operation at a Birthday Party.
Kegged wine :
As with a kegged cocktail drink, kegged wine has also been frowned upon. However, it’s not the kegging process that the problem, it is the wine that has been put in the keg. Luckily, we are seeing a trend in quality European and New World (NZ, Aus, South American etc.) starting to keg their products, and it is not just still wines, there is also sparkling wine available in keg format.
We think they would make a fantastic alternative to bottled table wine at a wedding, utilising carafes or swing-top bottles, this could also save a lot of throw away wine.
So what makes it sustainable?
When I first started looking into this, I couldn’t really work it out. I mean glass is infinitely recyclable right? Well, it is, but unfortunately, only 27% of glass is recycled, and the rest goes in the landfill. This is before considering the caps, corks, packaging, labelling and sheer weight in transport that wine and spirit bottles carry.
One keg = 26 bottles of wine and 14kg of packaging. It is calculated (I’m not sure how, but we’ll take it as a ballpark) that if 25% of the worlds wine was recycled, we would save 198 million bottles and a serious amount of packaging and transport.
Are there other benefits?
These products are, by nature, unspoilt and consistent in their serve from the first to the last glass. ✅
Quick service, less queuing, more dancing. ✅
The economies of scale involved with these kegs, also mean you might even get a cheaper end product. ✅
Self-service is also a possibility for these products. We rent chillers for this purpose :