Dedicated to scaling up bespoke STAINLESS STEEL and second-hand serve-ware.
After seeking advice from the national funding board Innovate UK, feedback was overwhelmingly positive that we should apply for charitable status. We are confident that it will prove to be a vital piece of our jigsaw.
We’re registering with the charity commission.
Our purpose is diverting the current spend on disposables, towards washing up the greenest stainless steel, made in Europe, and surplus catering serve-ware.
We want a network to roll out the service widely and the quickest way to do that is with assets owned by the industry community for the combined public benefit to the 140 million event attendees per year in the UK.
By offering an exceptional on-site hire and washing service, we believe we can deliver professionalism, efficiency and safer, more resilient events.
Our expertise in the event sector and partnership with the stainless steel industry will allow us to provide this service at an affordable rate.
Our strong commitment to cleanliness will ensure that we can eliminate over 80% of event waste. As a result, truly zero-waste events can be chievable with Wash-hubs.
When it comes to safety, we put our confidence behind pollution-free, plastic-free, green stainless steel products that stand out from existing plastic reusables. Notably, they do not contain “forever chemicals” or leech any substances into food.
Moreover, steel can be endlessly recycled. With its durability and lower energy consumption during the washing process compared to plastic, stainless steel is the best sustainable choice for a range of live events, from small community fayres to medium and large county sized sports occasions and festivals.
Single-use plastics make up 86% of all single-use items found on beaches Between 70-95% of all event waste materials is food packaging.
We are consulting with manufacturers in the supply chain who provide durable and healthy food and drink systems. These systems use environmentally friendly stainless steel for the serve-ware. European stainless steel is now competing with imported steel in terms of affordability and is a benchmark for eco-friendly practices
We strongly believe we can incorporate second-hand serve-ware that is embedded carbon, currently not being used, to complement the new steel serveware.
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We are a team of experienced event professionals, including catering managers, a waste reduction specialist, and frontline staff.
We have partnered with industry leaders to make reusables for events affordable and logistically practical. Passionately dedicated to speeding up and rolling out pollution-free, plastic-free, net zero services, we will enable the industry to build more sustainable event experiences.
OUR BUSINESS MODEL
We have a behaviour change model:
- Acknowledging the power of live events to affect change in the wider community alongside the damaging effects of its operations, we are following advice from Innovate UK, to create a charity to oversee fundraising from the industry for this project.
- Scaling Up as fast as possible by network development, open source methods and transparent accounting.
- Operations will be based on circular flows of change models frequently used in frontline services: Monitoring, Evaluation, Planning and Implementation.
- Polluter pays principle: The live events sector takes joint responsibility for the waste it generates, alongside the third party exterior food supply chains.
- Holistic stakeholder engagement, ensuring that all stakeholders are fully represented whilst keeping abreast of the wider national and international context.
We will use the most effective business models to achieve these objectives:
A non-profit structure to enable efficient resource sharing across a more diverse range of events and to ensure affordability for our visitors.
To collaborate with key stakeholders, allow a more inclusive engagement and base our research and development on scientific principles.
We are looking for partners to help the industry provide serve-ware assets for all areas of the UK, starting in the South West region.
This model of operations for serve-ware is proposed to be the most sustainable method for transitioning from disposable serve-ware to reusable systems in the live events sector.
The wider packaging environment, unnecessary replication and unfair competition for cleaning contracts in the events industry, coupled with a focus on recycling rather than reuse, has proven time and again to be a flawed system.
The evidence for this is clear, because that business model simply has not resulted in any truly circular reusables services so far, despite the fact that professional recycling has been operating in UK events since 1989. What we currently have is a sparse coverage of reusable plastic beakers for some cold drinks, coupled with encouragement to visitors to bring their own coffee cups and water bottles, sprinkled with some noble and courageous efforts to reuse household crockery on a small scale.
Waste companies and the events they serve are still drowning in a sea of throwaway materials.
Recycling is hugely complex and a circular economy based on only recycling is unachievable. To reach zero carbon we must aim higher, for zero waste using washable, safe materials that can be recycled infinitely.
Most throwaway “compostables” are unhealthy because they contain “forever” chemicals, “PFAS”, to harden the pulp.
These chemicals are similar to those used in plastics and are accumulating in the environment. Regulation for their use is weak, as is the regulation about how they are tested for safety
read the latest evidence, direct from the packaging industry itself about why PFAS must be eliminated from the supply chain.
Event organisers are stockpiling millions of plastic reusable items that are not easy to wash or recycle. In the long term these are unsuitable for re-use compared to stainless steel.
Plastics for food and drinks delivery is shown by a growing body of evidence to be unhealthy.
Here you can find more information on why plastics are not appropriate for food and drinks.
We have identified that STAINLESS STEEL SERVE-WARE and of course, second-hand serve-ware, are more sustainable and healthy than plastic reusables…read more here
The most sensible solution to reduce waste in the industry is to share serving items between events. This can be achieved by professionally and efficiently managing these items collaboratively, involving all stakeholders in the sector.
We`re raising funds for a live industry trial and are continuing the search for the best-designed serve-ware. You can read more on the blog about our serve-ware journey and our partnership with the British stainless steel industry.
see how to support the project by FREE or financial support here.
Are you a live event organizer, a trader with questions about what our service can do for you? Are you an event waste contractor or reusable plastics serve-ware company?
Or just passionately interested with ideas to share? Let’s talk
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Wash-Hubs.org
Zero Waste Events – durable, healthy, reusable food and drinks serve-ware
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