The Green Wedding Series: Drinks
BrancoPrata
Eco-friendly drinks
Food may be the high carbon footprint culprit, but drink plays its part too. Although small, it does account for two - five per cent of dietary greenhouse gas emissions, plus land erosion and water use. There is a lot to unpack when it comes to sustainable drinking at weddings. It’s an industry in itself so trying to be mindful of everything from drinks to garnishes to bar equipment is going to leave you feeling overwhelmed, and in need of a drink!
We’re all about easy wins and doing your bit where you can so in this chapter we’ll talk about how you can be kinder to the planet by picking more sustainable beverages, giving the packaging some thought and what you should expect from an eco friendly bar supplier.
DIY Boozing
If you’re planning to provide your own booze then it’s important to think about what it is, how it’s packaged and where you’re getting it from. It’s one thing to buy a couple of bottles of wine for a dinner party and another to get 150 people well and truly sloshed.
Avoiding plastic or unnecessary packaging is much easier than you think. Most drinks brands are already doing the work for you and minimising or eliminating plastic from their packaging completely. Follow our booze guide below and you can feel good about keeping those oceans plastic free and greenhouse gases down.
Want beer? Kegs are your friend. If that’s too tricky to bring in and operate yourselves then go for cans of beer over bottles because the UK has a solid aluminium recycling infrastructure. Check how the cans are packaged. Ideally you want to avoid those pesky plastic can rings so you don’t undo your good work.
Not all beers are created equal. Some breweries are doing more than others to be sustainable. Pick local outfits where you can or ones that are actively trying to shrink their carbon footprint like Adnams, Good Things or Toast Ale.
Want wine? Buy it at the supermarket or a local wine merchant. Don’t go abroad for it (Covid and Brexit might see to that anyway). The big issue for the planet with wine is the amount of water used to produce it, land erosion and also chemicals involved. You might not of thought of serving English wine before but it does exist and a handful of vineyards are taking sustainability seriously like Davenport Vineyards, Terlingham Vineyard and Forty Hall Vineyard.
Lyndsey Goddard
Want spirits? They tend to produce less CO2 and the greenest way to drink them is neat so you can legitimately have a shot bar or whisky station at your wedding and tell people they’re saving the planet. The Scots are leading the pack with their sustainable distilleries producing whisky, gin and vodka at Nc’nean and Arbikie.
The most sustainable alcoholic drink you can choose is cider. The UK is totally self sufficient in cider apples and they only have a small environmental impact. Keep it local to lower your transport emissions and you end up with a pretty low impact drink for the day. Cider might not be everyones first choice but make the most of it with a tasting station so your guests don’t feel like they have to drink big pints of the stuff if they’d rather sip.
And a note on cocktails, there is a slight sense of seasonality to them based on the ingredients so for example a Strawberry Daiquiris is going to be ideal in July but a Bramble would make a better signature drink in September.
Wedding bar suppliers
As with all the advice about suppliers that we’re peddling in this series, ask them about their supply chain and working practices. If they’ve considered their impact on the environment they will be able to tell you what they’re doing to minimise it. We spoke to Andy Collins from Ace Bar Events to get the inside track he says “Minimising waste is key for us. We dehydrate left over citrus fruits and use them as garnishes, we infuse left over herbs into spirits and we avoid straws where possible and use paper ones if we can’t. All of this helps to reduce waste from any event we run.”
When you’re looking for a bar supplier its important to consider their supply chain, carbon footprint and waste management. A bar supplier that shares your eco values will be able to provide options for more local, sustainable or ethical drinks options. However, its worth bearing in mind that it often comes at a higher cost to do right by the planet in the drinks industry because the UK doesn’t produce alcohol in such large quantities. There are lots of domestic companies producing good quality wines, beers, ales, spirits and even mixers, but you will have to pay a little more to get your hands on them.
Seth Carnill
If budget is an issue then all is not lost, you can still help by picking a supplier with their eye on their carbon footprint and waste management. Ask about how their bar structures are transported, for example Ace Bar Events flat pack their structures into flight cases which means they can be transported to your event in smaller vehicles compared to a company that has them in larger pieces and as such may need a bigger, more fuel guzzling lorry to get them to you.
We touched on minimising waste but there is also bound to be end of night waste, so what do they do with it? Ideally a company that separates out recycling, composting and general waste on site and disposes of it properly at the venue means you avoid the additional carbon footprint of another trip to take it away. Of course this is a conversation that involves both your drinks supplier and venue and ultimately it is your venue’s call, but it remains a good question to ask both before booking.
Overall the drinks industry is stand alone so it is going to require more money and effort to be more sustainable but if you can opt for locally sourced drinks and/or a supplier that shares your values it will help.
