Meet the North East businesses doing great things for people and planet
Everyone is at a different part of their ESG journey, and no one has all of the answers, but we think it is worth celebrating every step of the journey and learning from each other so we can cultivate a thriving, sustainable, and vibrant region for generations to come. We caught up with the team to find out which sustainable businesses they think deserve a shout-out in 2024…
Magic Hat Café is Newcastle’s only café kitchen dedicated to challenging the issue of food waste. Every dish that the talented team creates is made from surplus food that would otherwise have gone to landfills. Every week the Magic Hat team collects and shares 1.5 – 2 tonnes of food waste and turns it into delicious dishes that are served to over 500 + people a week in their city centre kitchen. Anything not used in the café is redistributed through a weekly hamper service and across the wider local community so nothing goes unused. Magic Hat believes that true sustainability is not created by a handful of people doing sustainability perfectly, but by everyone doing a little something – and we’ll second that!
The Glasshouse International Centre for Music
The Glasshouse (formerly The Sage) has announced big ambitions to get to Net Zero by 2030 through working with their artists and audiences, as well as making changes to the main building. The team behind the Glasshouse will also be using their platform to commission and showcase work that highlights the issues facing people around the globe. We choose our event venues carefully and the team at The Glasshouse has already committed to changes that align with our sustainability agenda, including offering free Metro travel with each ticket, reducing their meat consumption on-site (50% of all menus in their Brasserie and Café are now plant-based) and consciously presenting work that responds to the climate crisis.
Green is the new CMYK according to Tyneside-based print provider, Northern Print Solutions. The team, led by founder Craig Daly, is a Certified Carbon Capture® Company, meaning that they offer their customers the opportunity to carbon balance their print, capturing the carbon emitted from the production and manufacture of paper to support the plantation of new, native UK and international woodland and using accredited paper sourced from sustainable trees. On top of that NPS runs energy-efficient machinery, uses easily recyclable machinery, and uses local supplies in their supply chain.
Something good is a plastic-free pantry and ‘refillery’ based in Jesmond offering daily essentials (and some luxuries) without plastic packaging. There is no excuse for single use with how gorgeous their sustainably sourced products are, containers all made from glass, cork, cotton, or stainless steel. You can weigh, fill, and pay for the exact amounts you need so nothing goes to waste, and once you are finished you simply have to pop in-store, and off you go again.
Big River Bakery is on a mission to change the world, one loaf at a time. We recently worked with the team to deliver stottie-making kits to our amazing clients this Christmas and we were thrilled to learn that the team invested the profits from the bakery back into the local community. The team is small but mighty, delivering everything from ‘breakfast bags’ for children who don’t have access to breakfast clubs, warm hubs where local people can enjoy a cozy, friendly space and meet over food and activities, and the first-ever National Stottie Week which is taking place this February, raising money for the Children’s Heart Unit Fund.
Just as we are committed to change in the event sector, our neighbours in Hoult’s Yard are a driving force behind sustainability in the brewing industry. Sustainability is at the heart of everything that Full Circle crafts, and the talented team is aiming to set new industry standards when it comes to environmental good practices and inspire positive change in the North East and beyond. Just some of their initiatives include carbon labelling, which prominently displays the carbon footprint of their canned beer on each label, and investing in decarbonisation software to allow the team to effectively track and manage emissions.
Ingram AV offers Audio Visual Solutions and at our recent sustainability roundtable, our trusted friends and partners shared how they are moving towards greener energy through their solar-powered NRG innovation, which has already resulted in a huge reduction of carbon at large-scale events. The NRG system is a 2m x 1.6m unit that fits on to a trailer and is capable of providing 45KVa of clean energy with 120KWh of storage that is expandable. That means the system could be used to power a festival for about 5,000 people for a day if being used to power audio and lighting systems, or it could be used to power a location drama unit for a day!
To find out more about our sustainability goals, and to speak to the team about taking a green approach to your next event email info@beaconhouse-events.co.uk.
Posted on January 30, 2024