Wildflower Wedding: Carbon Offsetting and Recycling

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Real Green Weddings

Carbon Offsetting

Sara and Dean purchased carbon offsets through Terrapass. They chose Terrapass because "they have a handy-dandy wedding calculator (includes travel, accommodations, etc), and they are well respected in the industry. The basic idea here is that you pay a company, who pools money from others who buy offsets from them, and that company in turn invests the capital in greenhouse gas reducing technologies/efforts such as funding wind farms or solar displays (many other examples as well). The whole purchasing of carbon offsets is controversial, with some saying that it enables people to not change their behavior (i.e., still over consuming/polluting) and feel like it is magically sustainable. We look at the challenge of making our wedding sustainable as an effort to find a balance. We knew we wanted to have the wedding in a location that was very special to us, and carbon offsets allowed us to balance that location with the corresponding level of greenhouse gases emitted. It was easy to do and important to us!"

Recycling
The couple worked hard to set up recycling bins for their guests to use. Unfortunately, sometimes the best laid plans can go awry.

"We had one trash can set out with a hole cut in the lid for bottles, but as time wore on and the bag got replaced, the lid ended up on the ground and no clear home for recyclables existed any longer!" To ensure you do not have the same troubles at your wedding, Sara suggests "appointing a recycling czar who will put a nice looking bin out with a label indicating paper recycling at the end of your aisle in a visible but inconspicuous location." For the rehearsal dinner or reception, "ask a groomsman to be in charge of handling the volume of cans and bottles and set a designated area for those things to be placed until they can be taken to the recycling center. Also think about having simple signs on your waste bins to make things that much easier for your guests. Better yet, avoid cans and bottles entirely by using large volume containers (i.e. kegs)!" 

Final Thoughts

"In the end, we were amazed at how well all of our planning worked out...things went smoothly and we had an absolute blast ourselves. The key is getting more people to actually engage and feel that [the environment] is important, and this rides on a larger social/political movement. When it comes down to it, your wedding day should represent the two of you and, I feel, the type of life that you want to share together. Starting off on this way makes a big difference."