Waste prevention with Eco Certified Events

By project MINEV

Published on 20 February 2025

Italy

About this good practice

Ecoevents, created by Ambiente e Salute and Legambiente, one of Italy's leading environmental organizations, is designed to guide waste minimization in the organization and management of events. It supports event organizers from the planning stage to ensure improved sustainability.

Ecoevents offers three certification types:
- Ecoactions: it follows a lighter protocol, making it suitable for organizers who want to take their first steps toward waste management. Ecoactions encourages commitment to sustainability, addressing the cost barrier of ISO certifications by offering simplified protocols.
- Eco Certified Events: it does not only educates the organizer on how to reduce impact but also tracks and verifies concrete results, through a training and quantitative monitoring process, ensuring tangible improvements over time.
- Ecoevents offers the possibility to undertake a pathway to ISO Certification for events with significant sustainable actions.

Ecoactions and Eco Certified Events empower organizers to design events sustainably from the beginning, rather than providing a sustainability label at the end. Organizers complete trainings before the event, addressing waste management at every stage. Once standards are met and training is completed, the certification is granted before the event, in trust. This allows even small companies and associations, to promote their event in advance. For Eco Certified Events, a final audit verifies compliance during the event.

Resources needed

Ambiente e Salute relies on a team of sustainability experts who support event organizers in training their staff to implement sustainable practices and on the partnership with Legambiente, that ensures national coverage.

Evidence of success

In 2024, 61 events were certified Eco Certified Events and Ecoactions, such as the Future Film Festival in Bologna with 4,000 people in 2023. The festival implemented practices like reusable merchandising, free water points, and minimal plastic use. Since measurements are relative to the event’s initial conditions, even small improvements in a small event hold great value. The goal is to create a progressive shift towards sustainability, making every effort count.

Potential for learning or transfer

The Ecoevents-Legambiente certification offers significant potential for learning and adaptation in other countries aiming to promote sustainable event planning. By reducing resource use and waste, it demonstrates how events can minimize their environmental impact. The certification enhances visibility and reputation, making it easier to attract sustainability-conscious sponsors and participants. Also, it is designed to be accessible even to smaller organizations, such as associations and less structured groups, ensuring inclusivity and broader adoption. Furthermore, this certification process integrates sustainable practices across all stages of event planning—design, execution, and monitoring—showcasing how sustainability can become a core principle rather than a secondary consideration.