7 Ways Your Attraction Can Reduce Plastic Usage this Plastic Free July

One of the main concerns for the visitor attraction industry, and indeed all businesses in the UK, is ensuring that all operations are as environmentally friendly as possible.

Plastic Free July is an opportunity for us all to step up and help reduce our reliance on plastic as a way of helping to save the planet, so why not join in and step up your visitor attraction management?

It can be hard to know which methods could work best for reducing plastic waste, so here are seven quick tips to get your attraction on the right track!

1. Provide Plenty of Recycling Bins Throughout The Venue

Perhaps the easiest and most obvious solution to the problem is to provide several, easy-to-access recycling bins for your customers. That way, even if you don’t sell any plastic products on site, your guests can recycle anything they may have brought with them, including food wrappers or bottles.

Twin this strategy with an effective promotion campaign, including clear and interesting signs and colourful designs for your bins, to ensure your guests always recycle at every opportunity.

2. Install Water Refill Stations Across Your Attraction

It’s estimated that 1 million plastic bottles are purchased every 60 seconds worldwide, many of which are subsequently thrown away rather than recycled. A plastic bottle is also thought to take about 450 years to decompose, meaning every plastic bottle you use will be here long after you!

Persuade your visitors to bring their own reusable bottles and provide plenty of clean and accessible water refill stations to your visitors! If possible, also try to remove plastic bottles from your cafés and food stalls and replace them with paper cups to further avoid unnecessary waste.

That way, your guests can help themselves as they make their way round your attraction and any waste produced is compostable and decomposable.

3. Switch to Paper Bags at Your Secondary Points of Sale

If you utilise secondary points of sale, whether for an eatery or a gift shop, consider moving away from plastic bags and adopting paper or fabric alternatives.

Single use and even reusable plastic bags are some of the biggest polluters worldwide, and having environmentally friendly replacements will greatly reduce the number thrown away at your venue.

While many places charge a premium for plastic bags, moving away from them all together will greatly reduce your waste output.

4. Work With an Eco-Friendly Waste Manager

If you’re taking precautions but think you could benefit from some additional specialist help, consider working with an external, third-party waste management company. They can help to conduct a waste audit and suggest greener alternatives to your current processes.

In terms of plastic usage, a specialist waste manager can help provide more reliable recycling pathways, identify areas where plastic usage is too high, and help to find more environmentally friendly sources.

5. Buy in Bulk, Especially for Your Café

Instead of offering single use sachets for sauces, sugar, napkins, and more, consider buying multipacks and providing several stations where your customers can access these items.

This helps prevent the disposal of plastic wrappers and packaging while also improving convenience for your customers.

Additionally, use this time to reduce the prevalence of single-use plastics, such as straws or cutlery, and provide eco-friendly alternatives, like paper straws or wooden cutlery, that your guests can access from the same stations.

6. Sell Sustainable Souvenirs in Your Shops

Have you ever put much thought into where your gift shop products come from? Whether you sell stuffed animals, notepads, children’s toys, or anything else, there will almost certainly be eco-friendly alternatives that you can source.

Even if the products themselves are made from plastic, you can still reduce plastic waste by ensuring you partner with companies that operate with sustainable packaging!

That way you can ensure that plastic waste is kept to minimum, and if you use these methods in partnership with a VenposCloud EPoS system, then you can also switch to digital receipts to prevent unnecessary paper waste, too!

7. Make your tickets and membership cards digital

If you still have physical printed and laminated tickets or membership cards, consider switching these to be fully digital alternatives to help cut down on the amount of plastic you are using for printing and distribution.

This will also help your customers access your venue quicker with digital ticket scanning technology, as each ticket can be automatically validated directly by your customers rather than requiring a member of staff on the till.

By utilising this functionality, entry data is then uploaded to the VenposCloud visitor management solution, which allows you to see a breakdown of visitor numbers. This lets you to see trends over time, more efficiently allocate staff members to busy areas, and provides a comprehensive method of capacity management for attractions.

Work towards environmentally friendly operations with Vennersys

Looking to work towards a greener strategy, or perhaps thinking of updating your attraction ticketing software? VenposCloud is the visitor attraction management solution for you!

Our innovative, modular system can be used in partnership with an existing green strategy to accelerate your results, while our attraction booking software, data reporting tools, and more can be used to update and improve your general processes.

Reach out to a member of our team today on 01908 735 274 or email contact@vennersys.com to discuss your options, or book a free demonstration of our system to see how it works for yourself!