O-Ringen Magazine. Nr 2 - 2022

Huvudpartner O-Ringen 2022
O-Ringen 2022
– a certified sustainable event
In the O-Ringen magazine from this
spring, you could already read about our
focus on being a well-known sustainable
experience and how we within O-Ringen
work with sustainability issues - both
social, environmental, and financial
sustainability. In the same article we
wrote about our path towards becoming
a Certified sustainable event.
TEXT ANNA WENNERTORP PHOTO PETER HOLGERSSON
Tack, alla ni
O-Ringenhjältar
2022
The certification is designed to push organizers
to act more sustainably, and we succeeded.
O-Ringen 2022 was approved as sustainable
according to Greentime's standard for
sustainable events. What, then, in brief, is
required to obtain this certification?
To achieve the certification “Certified
Sustainable Event”, an event must meet
a number of sustainability requirements
(according to the tools associated with
the certification) and be audited by an
independent auditor. In the certification
tool, there are a total of 30 criteria that are
mandatory to obtain the certification. In
addition, the event must achieve at least
50 % of the total points according to the
certification tool. An independent auditor
reviews the event descriptions and verifying
documents. The auditor also conducts
a site check during the event to ensure
compliance with the description provided.
The organizer then receives a short report
with observations and possible deviations/
improvement proposals from the site
inspection. An approved result from the
auditor gives the organizer the right to
communicate that the event is a Certified
Sustainable Event.
The actual audit of the O-Ringen was done
on July 28, 2022, through a site visit by an independent
auditor and the overall assessment
is that we can call ourselves a certified Sustainable
Event. Valerie Hasler was the auditor
responsible for the inspection on site:
– Congratulations for the certification,
O-Ringen Uppsala! It was my first visit
to O-Ringen, and I was impressed by the
gigantic event with its complex logistics.
During my visit, the mood was at its peak
among participants and officials.
– My impression was that the local organization
in Uppsala worked in a structured way
to reduce the negative impact on the environment
and to contribute to personal health,
inclusion and community, Valerie continues.
Of course, there are things that can be
improved, and some of the things that
emerged were that we must become even
better at including all officials and employees
in the local sustainability plan so that
we enable everyone to act sustainably based
on our plan and strategy. Our kiosks can be
improved by adding Swedish organic fruit
and increasing the proportion of healthy
snacks, food, and drinks. We could also run
our grills with biogas instead of normal gas.
Regarding the packaging in our kiosks, we
received the recommendation to reduce
plastic and disposable packaging and instead
look at more sustainable alternatives.
– A tip for the organization in Åre before
2023 is to set clear sustainability requirements
for partners and suppliers and to
follow up on these requirements through
audits. I would also like to see more eco-labelled
products on the market as well as
more locally produced, eco-labelled food
and drink, Valerie says.
Submit suggestions for more improvements.
To get even further ahead in our sustainability
work, we are now using this summer's audit to
find ideas for improvements.
This is of course done in consultation
with all our partners and suppliers as
they are a large and important part of the
O-Ring as an event - we want all products
offered during the week to be sustainable.
We would like to include you participants
in our sustainability work as well. We can
only get better, and we do it together. If you
have a suggestion or thought of something
we can do differently next year - please
contact us at info@oringen.se.
» SUSTAINABILITY
Within Swedish orienteering, we also work
with sustainability through the strategy
Compass Direction 2030. Within the field
we want Swedish orienteering to be one of
the leading players in the world of sports in
terms of economic, social, and environmental
sustainability by 2030. BY 2030 we further
want to see that the members of orienteering
should reflect the population of Sweden
and that everyone should have the same
opportunities to participate in orienteering
activities. Finally, within the area of ​
sustainability by 2030, we want to conduct
orienteering events in a sustainable way with
regard to the environment and nature.
Nu hittar ni till oss och våra utbildningar
– med kraft att rädda världen
10 O-RINGEN MAGAZINE NR 2 • 2022
www.slu.se