Eco Options for Your Party Linens and Hangers

I don’t know about the rest of you, but when I rent party linens, I’ve always returned the hangers to my rental companies. On rare occasions, I’ve snagged them for myself to use in my office (for my supply of party linens) and at home (for my bed linens).

A few years ago, when I was setting up an event with a caterer I had never worked with before (the client picked ‘em), I found out that not everybody returns their hangers. I had set aside a nice pile of all the hangers and plastic wrap that the linens came in and was planning on returning them to the rental company. I stepped away and when I returned, my little pile was gone. I put on my detective hat to figure out what had become of them and was shocked and appalled when I discovered them in the trash can in the catering kitchen. NOT keeping my emotions in check, I yelled, “What are these doing in here???” The catering manager replied, “But we ALWAYS throw them away.” The pains in my chest got tighter. I quickly educated them about the important practice of re-using things. How could they just throw them into the trash?

I’m happy to say that ONE of my favorite rental companies, Party Renal, Ltd., delivers their linens on a Z-rack (basically a clothing rack on wheels) which also comes with a canvas bag. I love this because the linens stay on the rack and don’t get wrinkled because they are placed in a pile somewhere in the event space after delivery. Afterwards, customers place the hangers on the rack and the linens in the canvas bag instead of putting them in an evil plastic trash bag which by the way is made from petroleum!

So return those hangers!

Selecting a Green Venue

Event and meeting professionals are making great strides in greening up our events through catering, décor, printed materials, transportation and of course, the venue selection. When choosing a green venue, the easiest and most logical choice is a building with a LEED (Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design) designation of either Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum. The LEED designation is bestowed by the U.S. Green Building Council and indicates that a building meets the highest green building and performance measures with respect to:

Lower operating costs
Reduced waste sent to landfills
Conservation of energy and water
A healthier and safer environment for occupants
Reduction in harmful greenhouse gas emissions
Demonstration of the owner's commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility

In my mind, if a building has a LEED designation, its management undoubtedly cares about the environment. More and more venues are seeking out this designation, but in the meantime, venues can still engage in environmentally friendly initiatives without having the LEED designation.

If you work at a venue, be sure to talk up your green initiatives. Eco conscious planners like me want to give our business to venues that care about the impact they are making on the Earth.

To find an environmentally friendly venue, or to list your environmentally friendly venue, here are some helpful web sites.

• Environmentally Friendly Hotels

• Green Hotels Association