Sustainability at the Drapers Independents Awards 2024
The Drapers Independents Awards is on a journey to become more sustainable, and we thought we would share with our guests just some of the efforts we are making in response to the climate crisis. It is increasingly important in our world that we come together to celebrate the achievements of so many, but we must do so in a way that is as environmentally responsible as possible.
The venue
The JW Marriott Grosvenor House London is a three-time “Greener Path” award winner for achieving 0% to landfill, and a “Green Tourism” award winner for its sustainability practices. These include a new AC unit in the Great Room to help meet energy-savings targets, recycling cooking oil, which is turned into bio-fuel for transport, and eliminating use of plastic straws.
The menu
The menu for this event has been chosen with sustainability in mind. The venue only uses free-range Clarence Court eggs, and all food waste will be processed for use in agriculture. All of the ingredients are sourced as locally to the venue as possible.
Suppliers and collateral
Drapers chooses its suppliers with a bias towards those partners who take sustainability seriously.
Our event guide programmes and tickets are electronic instead of printed. The signage we use is from Insite Graphics, which holds ISO14001 certification. Event signage is all either recyclable, reusable, or used to provide community power when disposed of – none will go to landfill. All the ink is water based and much of our signage is moving to carboard-based alternatives, recyclable in generic paper waste collections.
Audio-visual provider: Stray Cat Communications
The afternoon's stunning stage set has been provided by Stray Cat Communications, our AV partner for the awards. Stray Cat Communications predominantly uses LED screen, which means it is not using sets with projection that are thrown away after use. LED, in comparison with a standard lamp, is far more energy efficient and has a longer lifespan. Stray Cat Communications does not run on "empty miles" in its vans and trucks – it only makes necessary journeys and ensures the trucks are full. If it is a job outside the M25 or the UK it also endeavours to use local suppliers. All old laptops and tech are either donated to charity projects or schools, and as a team, they are big believers in public transport and cycling.
Trophy supplier
Gaudio, our trophy supplier, plants a tree for every order made.
We need to work harder
This section of the website is not just dedicated to shouting about how great we are for doing what we should have been doing all along. We need to do better. We would love to hear from you on how you think we could improve.
Please email any suggestions to drapers.independents@emap.com for this event, or you can take a few moments to complete the post-event survey that will be emailed to you after the ceremony.