Every dog has his day, and once a year at The NEC in Birmingham canines from across the UK get the chance to show the country their obedience and talents at the world’s largest dog show, Crufts.
With many spectators, owners, breeders and the dogs themselves attending the four-day event, there is understandably a serious amount of rubbish left over once the show finishes.
Large scale events such as this will always accrue large amounts of rubbish, including plastic cups, food wrappers and in this case, dog waste.
It’s important nowadays for any large-scale show, such as Crufts, to demonstrate green credentials, by recycling as much waste as possible whilst making sure that any non- recyclable rubbish is disposed of without impacting on the environment.
The NEC arena already has a positive environmental track record and lists several pledges to sustainability on its site, including its ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ policy, its initiative to power homes in Staffordshire with food waste, and a commitment to build a combined heat and power plant to help the venue run more efficiently.
Pledges such as these have helped the large-scale venue pick up several green awards, thus setting a positive example to similar spaces across the UK.
Waste management of an event this size will mostly be handled by a private contractor for the venue, working in conjunction with smaller organisations and, where possible, environmental charities.
This year’s event provided a prime example of how working with smaller organisations can help breed innovative ideas for clearing waste, as the event worked with a smaller business to commission an ethical way to dispose of dog waste.
The organisation Earth Essentials created a basic recycling system that disposed of left over waste, leaving only what was suitable for fertiliser. This shows how coordination between both small and large scale companies is crucial in stopping unnecessary waste going to landfill sites.
Both Crufts and The NEC’s commitment to providing more environmentally sustainable ways of disposing of waste really does prove that you can teach an old dog new tricks. If you too have an event, be it large scale or something smaller, and are concerned about what to do with your waste and recycling, it may be best to consider hiring a private waste disposal company like us here at Junk Hunters.