Zero Waste Heroes FAQ

1. Pre-Event Support

After your discovery call, we’ll work with you to establish your event’s sustainability and waste reduction goals and explore how waste reduction can support them. We’ll also discuss the event logistics to ensure our stations are placed effectively and that the waste streams produced by vendors are properly managed (e.g., compost, recycling, landfill).

Following this call, we’ll provide a customized quote based on the size and requirements of your event, as well as the staffing and resources needed to meet your goals. We’ll continue collaborating with your team to identify further opportunities for minimizing waste, selecting the most sustainable, recyclable, and compostable materials, and ensuring your event aligns with its environmental objectives. Our service is not just about waste management—we offer consultative support to guide you in making strategic choices to meet your sustainability goals.

To keep everything on track, we’ll schedule follow-up meetings and provide resources for vendors and partners, ensuring that everyone involved is aligned and prepared to contribute to your event’s zero waste goals.

2. Hosted Zero Waste Stations at Your Event

At your event, our trained staff will manage live waste stations to help guests sort their waste into compost, recycling, and landfill categories. These stations not only divert waste from landfills but are managed by our staff and serve as educational tools, demonstrating to attendees how they can play a role in sustainability and waste reduction.

3. Post-Event Follow-Up & Reporting

After the event, we’ll provide a detailed report on the success of your waste diversion efforts, including key statistics (e.g., waste diverted, total waste collected) and actionable recommendations for improvement. This will give you a clear assessment of your progress and a baseline to set higher goals for future events.

Pricing varies depending on the size, scale, and specific needs of your event. We understand that each event has different budget considerations, and we will work with you to create a service package that fits your goals and budget. After an initial consultation, we will provide a customized quote based on your event’s requirements.

AWARE can collect a variety of waste streams in line with Recycle BC guidelines, partnering with local waste haulers to ensure compliance with regional standards. Commonly collected materials include:

• Cardboard & Paper
• Food Scraps & Organics
• Mixed Containers (plastics, glass)
• Bottles & Cans
• Landfill Waste (as a last resort)

We tailor the waste streams to your event’s needs, ensuring we capture the highest diversion rates possible.

Yes, we provide all necessary waste bins and signage for your event’s waste stations across the event grounds. Our team will ensure the stations are clearly marked, making it easy for guests to sort their waste correctly. However, while we can collect and manage the waste during the event, final waste disposal may require additional bins rented from a local waste hauler, depending on the size and needs of your event.

Our trained Zero Waste Heroes staff will be on-site during your event to oversee waste segregation and assist attendees with sorting. We’ll monitor the stations, troubleshoot any challenges, and ensure everything runs smoothly. Our team will also assist with event site cleanup, but the overall responsibility for maintaining the cleanliness of the event grounds rests with the event organizers.

Please note that litter picking outside of the waste stations is not solely the responsibility of our team—both event organizers and attendees will need to help maintain the overall cleanliness of the site.

While our primary service area is Whistler, we’re excited to announce that, thanks to the addition of an electric van (made possible by the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation), we can now support events across the Sea-to-Sky corridor. Please reach out with the details of your event, and we’ll discuss how we can assist.

We aim to support events of all sizes, from small ongoing community based events to large-scale festivals that draw the international community. Our team tailors the service to meet your specific needs and provides the right level of support based on the size and complexity of your event. Please reach out to discuss your event’s details, and we’ll work with you to determine how we can best assist.

If waste is created outside of the hours that our waste stations are operational, it will be the responsibility of the event organizers to manage it. In such cases, you will need to work with a local waste hauler or arrange for pack-out to ensure proper disposal. We recommend planning ahead for waste management during non-operational hours to keep the event site clean and sustainable.

Our cancellation policy depends on the timing of your event and the work already completed in preparation. Please contact us directly for full details on cancellation terms.