Start with the cups, and everything else follows

Every village fête, summer fair, school sports day and charity fun run has the same quiet problem hiding in plain sight: the bin bag at the end of the day, heavy with polystyrene cups, plastic bottles, straws and carrier bags. It is rarely anyone's fault. When you are juggling a raffle, a bouncy castle and a bacon roll stall, single-use plastic is simply the path of least resistance.

But community events are also the perfect place to change habits, because people are relaxed, curious and usually happy to join in. A visitor who hands back a reusable cup at your summer fair is far more likely to think twice about the disposable one at their next coffee stop. What follows is a practical, tested approach you can borrow, adapt and make your own.

Run a reusable cup scheme that people actually use

The single biggest win is swapping disposable cups for reusables. It sounds daunting, but it can be surprisingly simple if you plan the logistics before the day.

• Estimate your numbers. A rough rule of thumb is one and a half cups per attendee, plus a buffer of around ten per cent for breakages and cup-and-run guests.
• Use a deposit or token system. Charge a small deposit, or hand out a wooden token with each drink and refund it when the cup comes back. It gives people a reason to return them instead of leaving them on a bench.
• Set up a cup return station at every exit, not just one in the middle of the field. Make it visible, with a bright sign and a volunteer who can chat while they sort cups.
• Sort the washing. Ask a local café or pub if you can borrow their dishwasher, hire a mobile wash unit, or run a rota of volunteers with three sinks: wash, rinse, sanitise. Keep a separate bin for dirty cups so nothing clean gets mixed in.
• Store them properly. Crates with lids, stacked in a dry shed, will keep your cups usable for years and save you hiring them again.

Encourage bring-your-own bottles and make refills easy

Water is free, and the fuss is almost always about access rather than cost. If refilling is easy, most people will bring a bottle rather than buy one.

• Say it in your publicity. Put "bring a refillable bottle" on the poster, the social posts and the programme. Three mentions before the day beats one sign on the gate.
• Set up at least two refill points on larger sites, well signposted and away from the busiest stalls so queues do not block the walkways.
• Ask caterers to fill bottles free of charge. Most will, gladly. Put it in their booking confirmation so there is no awkwardness on the day.
• Keep a few spare bottles in a box at the welcome tent for anyone who forgot theirs. Borrowed and returned, or simply given away, they cost pennies and they save a lot of plastic.

Get the recycling bins right, or they will not work

Badly labelled bins create contaminated recycling, which councils will send to landfill. A little thought goes a long way.

• Pair every recycling bin with a general waste bin. A lone recycling point becomes a rubbish bin within an hour.
• Label with pictures, not just words. Show a cup, a can and a bottle. Add a clear "no food, no napkins, no crisp packets" message.
• Use colour coding consistently across the whole site and check what your local council actually accepts before you print anything.
• Recruit bin buddies. A pair of volunteers who wander, chat and gently steer people to the right bin will improve your recycling rate more than any sign.
• Plan the collections. Empty bins before they overflow, and arrange for a licensed collector to take away mixed recycling and food waste separately.

Bring your stallholders along with you

Traders want a busy, well-run event, and most are happy to cooperate when they know what is expected in advance. The key is to make the ask early and make it easy.

• Put a simple plastic clause in the booking form. No plastic carrier bags, no plastic straws, no polystyrene containers, no single-use cutlery unless it is genuinely reusable or compostable.
• Offer alternatives. Point them towards paper bags, wooden cutlery, cardboard trays and straws that are only given out when someone asks.
• Send a one-page briefing pack a fortnight before the event, with the reasons behind each request and contact details for questions.
• Thank them publicly. A mention in your post-event newsletter, or a small "plastic-free stallholder" sticker, builds goodwill for next year.

Count it, celebrate it and do it again

You do not need a scientific audit, but a rough tally is powerful. Count how many cups you hired and how many came back, weigh or estimate the bags of waste, and note how many bottles were refilled. Share those numbers with your volunteers, your funders and your visitors.

Then write it all down in a single document: what you bought, who washed the cups, which bins worked, which stallholders needed a nudge. Next year's organiser will thank you for it, and your event will be quietly, cheerfully greener than the last.