Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change presents the Good Practices Guide for the Organisation of Circular Events

April 12, 2023

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change, Alonso Miguel, presided, by digital means, the official presentation session of the Good Practices Guide for the Organisation of Circular Events, prepared under the creation of the Regional Circular Economy Roadmap.

According to the governor, “with the preparation of this guide, we intend to establish a referential model for the integration of circular economy practices in events organised in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, assisting the organisers in the transition to a circular economy, providing simple, step-by-step guidelines and directives for the organisation of sustainable events, committed to circularity”.

Alonso Miguel said that “it is increasingly urgent to ensure a paradigm shift that promotes the transition to a circular economy, based on a sustainable development model, which implies a joint effort and commitment from all, involving the population in the adoption of good environmental practices, and a continuous focus on promotion and environmental awareness”.

The Regional Secretary also said that “the circular economy, in which the life cycles of products are optimised, whose principles can and should be applied to the organization of events since these are associated with high consumption of resources”.

“It is therefore important to promote the organisation of the events in the Region in line with the principles of the circular economy, promoting a strategic concept of a circular event and the adoption of sustainability practices, from design to post-event, based on prevention, reduction, reuse, recovery and recycling”, he added.

Alonso Miguel also highlighted that, in order to promote the recognition of the efforts made, this project also contemplates the creation of the “Circular Event” Seal, which “intends to be an environmental quality certificate that aims to distinguish the good practices of the organising entities”.

“It is a seal that can be “Gold” or “Silver”, depending on the classification of the applications presented by the organises entities, based on the calculation of a circularity index, following a set of pre-defined criteria”, he clarified.

Alonso Miguel stressed that “Azorean have, generally, great pride in organising events, so surely this recognition and the display of this seal will be an additional attraction for adopting good environmental practices in the Azores”.

The Regional Secretary for the Environment and Climate Change underlined that “under this project, a Good Practices Guide for Circular Private Parties was also elaborated to transposed the circular economy concept to the domestic sphere, stimulating the contribution of each Azorean to circularity”.

“It was with great satisfaction that we noted the high adherence to this event, which was attended by about 140 participants, revealing an Azorean society increasingly aware and awake to environmental preservation and sustainability”, concluded the governor.