Hosting an event as large as the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) required an enormous amount of equipment to make the project functional across 2 weeks of live sessions, 3 months of set up and 1 month of breakdown. And with 6,000 staff and volunteers onsite the need was larger than your average project.
While the world leaders were discussing global projects, staff were scurrying away in the background to keep the show running. The event site became home to eight large production offices and many smaller, satellite offices - housing event agency, Identity. Leftover items from the operations team included key tags for the hundreds of on-site doors, cash boxes for petty cash and last-minute purchases, whiteboards for scheduling, shredders to dispose of sensitive information responsibly and a whole lot of stationery. Once they were all finished, Event Cycle repurposed them with five local charities.
Appreciating the number of items likely to be leftover and not wanting to waste carbon emissions on transport, Event Cycle were tasked by Identity and Her Majesty's Government to collect the perfectly reusable and recyclable stationery and office items after the event and identify suitable destinations for them in the Glasgow area.
It’s truly amazing how our donations end up at surprising and unusual places, and one of them is World of Wings, a bird sanctuary home to Hawks, Eagles, Owls, Falcons and other exotic birds! They received several boxes of recycled paper and a shredder which they intend to use for the daily upkeep and admin department.
Another recipient of a large package of stationery, key boxes, shredders, 15 whiteboards and several battery recycling tubes were Transition Stirling, an environmental charity that aims at helping people live a more sustainable and resilient lifestyle. They will make the collected goods accessible to the local community as part of their Reuse Hub, a project set up to encourage the reuse of materials by reducing the need to buy items brand new when they can be bought nearly new at the store
Glasgow Play Resource took it one step further! While they kept some of the materials from the donation for themselves, they passed on most of the papers and pens to Phoenix Futures, an organization that supports individuals with addiction and recovery.
"We are extremely grateful for you contacting us and donating so many materials which will help us, our members and those in the recovery community.”
The rest of the office supplies reached the southern part of Glasgow in the beautiful residential district of Castlemilk. Jeely Piece Club is a benevolent charity that provides learning opportunities to children from 0-12 years of age regardless of their circumstances and background. Their mission is to increase life chances and opportunities for children, adults and the wider community, and we're delighted to be able to be a tiny part of this humanitarian initiative. Their staff are going to use the stationery to prepare for their day-to-day activities and duties. It has helped them divert budgets for stationery supplies towards other direct activity costs. It has truly been a cost saver and manages to save the day, yet again!
Whether you’re an event organiser or representative of a registered charity, get in touch with Event Cycle to find out more about the consultancy and donation process.