A: Not necessarily BUT making an informed decision about whether a food is safe to eat or needs to be pitched can reduce food waste. That’s what links KeepSafe Food food safety advice to preventing food waste. Along those lines, and in support of local sustainability efforts, we’re featuring a throwback (not throwaway) post on a Columbus area sustainability heroine’s waste free wedding. 

Meet Allegra Wiesler, an Ohio healthcare system sustainability expert, who incorporated her passion and expertise into her wedding plans last year. In conjunction with my former dietetic intern, and now certified dietitian and personal trainer,  Caroline O’Connor, we interviewed Allegra to learn how she did so.

Caroline: Before we get into the details, let me ask how you would describe a “waste-free wedding?” 

Allegra: My goal was to achieve zero waste, to send nothing to the landfill. But in reality, I knew zero might not be entirely realistic, but I wanted to divert as much as possible from the landfill.

 Caroline: What inspired you?

Allegra: This is my work. This is my life. My wedding was an opportunity to exercise my passion for sustainability in a practical way. I didn’t know anyone who had done it before, and really didn’t research it. I wanted to learn if it was feasible. I wondered just how difficult it would be.

Caroline:  What did your husband think of the idea? Was he onboard or reluctant?

 Allegra: This is not Ben’s passion, but we’ve lived together for a few years, so he knew what he was getting himself into. Ha! He supported me by letting me run with it.

 Caroline: How did you go about it? Figure out what was most important? What needed done first?

Well first of all, when selecting your venue consider what their standard services are. Our wedding was at North Bank Park Pavilion, a Columbus Recs & Parks site. They do provide trash service, but not recycling. So, I had to arrange for that all myself: recycling containers, delivery, pick up and disposal.

We invited about 120 guests. These are all people that would drive to attend… even though that’s not adding to the landfill, to me it’s another environmental nightmare, so I wanted to offset other activities that required transportation as much as possible. That meant going local: local vendors, local flowers, etc.

Then I worked with the vendors to determine what their options were in how they would actually provide the service. For example, I ended up buying the bamboo plates and cutlery and compostable napkins and I worked with the bartender to get compostable cups and paper straws. I arranged for the flowers not to be wrapped in plastic.are temporarily unavailable or reserved for critical need providers.

Guest & Glitches

Caroline: Tell me about the invitations. Did you advertise your wedding as “waste free” on the invite?

Allegra: Originally, I was going to invite guests via email but received a little push back from some family and friends. So, we sent just one notice, no “save the date,” just the actual invitation. We used a local company that carried paper stock made from 100% post-consumer recycled goods…and added a “please recycle” request on it. We provided other details on The Knot. I did not specifically mention the “waste-free” aspect on the invite, but it would have been a good idea!

Caroline: What other barriers did you run into?

Allegra:  Oh, there were still some unexpected glitches.

•  One of the catering vendors brought everything in a ton of aluminum containers wrapped in plastic.

•  Informing Guests was a bit of a challenge. I created my own signage for the wedding.

• There were two choices: “Recycle” or “Compost.” There was no “Trash” option.

• I explained it at the beginning of the wedding “plates go here ... food goes there.”  But, the bartender didn’t have signs for the compostable cups she provided and many of those were placed in the recycling bin by mistake. I sorted through them the best I could

Caroline: How did your guests react?

Allegra: Most comments to me were positive, but then again, I was the bride.  Overall, they seemed happy that I was able to make it more environmentally friendly and seemed sincere in wanting to go along with my intent.

Caroline: Do you think having a “waste-free wedding” saves money or adds to the cost?

Allegra: In some ways it saved money because I was able to buy some things on my own. However, I did have to pay extra for the composting. Also, I had to transfer the recycled items myself at 9:00 a.m. the next morning, so it did not necessarily save time… 

Caroline: Do you think it took longer to plan your wedding because it was waste free?

Allegra: Altogether, I think it took less than 6 months. Not too bad as I didn’t have a wedding planner. I think this is fairly typical.

Advice?

Caroline: What advice would you give to someone who wants to emulate your efforts?

Allegra: Make sure you have recycling and composting vendors in place FIRST. They will inform you what you can and cannot put in their waste streams. Then, let that dictate your purchases of décor and supplies.

 Stick with your commitment.  It’s your wedding. Do not get discouraged, especially when you ask questions that others do not have the answers for.  I think most couples feel overwhelmed at some point in the wedding process. If not about this, then about something else that’s important to them. I do sustainability planning for a living and, even with all of my efforts and expertise, I still ended up with some trash at the end. Don’t expect perfection. Weddings are, by their nature, wasteful. 

 Caroline: Could you estimate how much you might have saved in waste? 

 Allegra: I wish I had asked Innovative Organics to weigh my compost after the wedding, so I could know for sure. We only sent two bags to the landfill after the event, maybe 30 pounds total? I could carry them, so they weren’t too heavy. As you can imagine, most people don’t weigh their wedding waste! Some estimates are that a typical wedding generates about 500 pounds of waste! Unbelievable.

 Caroline: Any other hints?

Allegra:  I limited my decorations to flowers and linens. I donated my flowers to my neighbors instead of throwing them away at the end of the night. 

 Caroline: One last question…Did you have a waste free honeymoon?

Allegra: We did not have a honeymoon this year…I guess that’s pretty sustainable in itself! But we plan to travel abroad next year, so maybe we’ll purchase carbon offsets for that trip  

What KeepSafe Food Item Helps Reduce Waste?

Mary Angela: The Fridge Magnet Safe Storage Guide will remind you if you have a few days left on that fridge item. Only $5.99 . Really? Yes. Order one or two now!