I help events and hospitality businesses cut their waste — and prove it.
Waste diagnostics, reduction plans and measurement that stands up to permit authorities, sponsors and auditors. Amsterdam-based, ISO 20121 qualified.
Event waste reduction in Amsterdam.
Measured, not guessed.
Five ways to work together — from a first diagnostic of where your waste and its costs actually come from, to a costed reduction plan, the paperwork your permit requires, and the internal audits ISO 20121 asks of certified organisations.
Waste Diagnostic
from EUR 1,600I find out where your waste comes from, what it costs you, and what you can realistically cut.
- Waste baseline: volumes by stream, annual cost, kg per visitor or cover
- Indicative materials footprint — the impact of making and disposing of your main materials, not just throwing them away
- Issues report ranking your waste sources by volume and cost
- Top 5 priority actions with estimated impact
- 45-minute findings session
Typical duration: 3 weeks from receipt of your data
No waste data at all? I can measure on site instead — from EUR 2,400.
Waste Reduction Plan
from EUR 2,800A costed plan to hit a specific reduction target, including the supplier changes it takes to get there.
- Reduction pathway to your target, measure by measure
- Independent supplier assessment — your suppliers scored against sustainability criteria, with switching recommendations. I take no commission from suppliers and hold no commercial relationship with any of them.
- Waste management plan: measures, owners, deadlines, expected reduction
- Measurement protocol: what to count, who counts it, when
- Presentation and one revision round
Typical duration: 6-8 weeks from receipt of your data
Add-ons: communication plan (EUR 350), post-event verification (EUR 900)
Requires existing waste data, or the Waste Diagnostic first.
Amsterdam Duurzaamheidsplan
from EUR 1,200Events over 500 visitors in Amsterdam must submit a sustainability plan with the permit application, and incomplete plans are not processed. I draft yours; you review and submit.
- Completed duurzaamheidsplan ready for submission
- Supplier gap list
- One-page note on where you stand against the 2026 waste reduction target
Typical duration: 2-3 weeks. Book at least 4 weeks before your permit deadline.
EUR 600 when combined with the Waste Reduction Plan
Advisory Session
EUR 350Two hours to review a draft plan, sanity-check a supplier list, or work through one problem together.
- Two-hour call
- One page of written conclusions
- Fee credited against any larger engagement booked within 90 days
Typical duration: a two-hour call, usually scheduled within a week
ISO 20121:2024 Internal Audit
Request quoteISO 20121 requires certified organisations to run internal audits — and you cannot impartially audit your own management system. Nor can the body that certifies you.
- Internal audit against ISO 20121:2024, planned and reported to clause 9.2
- Nonconformity and observation report with corrective action recommendations
- Management review input pack (clause 9.3)
- Closing meeting with your team
Typical duration: 3-4 weeks
Also available: pre-certification readiness audit before your certification body's visit.
I am a qualified ISO 20121:2024 auditor (TÜV SÜD). I do not issue certificates, and I do not audit a management system I designed myself — where I have built the system, I will say so and recommend an independent auditor.
Prices are starting points. Final scope and fee are agreed after a free 30-minute call — that call is for scoping, not advice.
Where the money leaks.
A waste diagnostic of a recurring event package in an Amsterdam venue: a measured waste baseline, an indicative materials footprint of the main single-use items, a supplier gap analysis, and a monitoring system the client now runs on their own. The same diagnostic lifted contribution margin from 21% to 50%.
Who I work with as a sustainable event consultant in Amsterdam.
Event organisers and agencies
Congresses, corporate events, cultural events, festivals.
Venues and hospitality
Conference venues, hotels, catering and food service.
ISO 20121 events and the duurzaamheidsplan evenement — common questions.
If your event in Amsterdam expects more than 500 visitors, a sustainability plan (duurzaamheidsplan) goes in with your permit application. The city does not process incomplete applications, so a missing or thin plan can delay your permit at the worst possible moment. The plan has to say concretely how you will handle waste, energy, water, transport and food — not just state good intentions. I draft it in the format the city expects; you review it and submit it under your own name.
You start with a baseline, because you cannot halve a number you have never measured. In practice most residual waste at events comes from a handful of sources: single-use serveware, food waste, packaging from suppliers, and decor or signage that cannot be reused. Once those are quantified by volume and cost, the cuts become concrete decisions — menu and format changes, reusable systems, and supplier requirements written into contracts. The plan then sets who does what, by when, and how it gets counted afterwards.
ISO 20121:2024 is the international standard for sustainable event management: a management system for planning, running and improving events responsibly. Certification is optional, and many organisations use the standard as a structure without ever certifying. It becomes worth certifying when tenders, sponsors or public clients ask for independent proof. Certificates are issued by an accredited certification body — I am a qualified ISO 20121:2024 auditor (TÜV SÜD) and prepare you for that audit.
A Waste Diagnostic starts at EUR 1,600, a Waste Reduction Plan at EUR 2,800, a duurzaamheidsplan at EUR 1,200, and a two-hour Advisory Session is EUR 350. These are starting points: the final fee depends on the number of sites, the number of waste streams and how much usable data already exists. Scope and fee are agreed after a free 30-minute call, before any work begins, so there are no open-ended hourly bills.
Your waste contractor collects and reports on what you have already thrown away, and their business grows when your volumes grow. My work sits upstream of the bin: reducing what gets bought, served and discarded in the first place. I also assess your suppliers independently — I take no commission and hold no commercial relationship with any of them. And the output is structured to satisfy permit authorities, sponsors and auditors, not just to log tonnage.
ISO 20121:2024 clause 9.2 requires internal audits at planned intervals to check the management system is working. The audit must be impartial, so you cannot use your own team — they are too close to the system to be objective — and you cannot use your certification body, because that would blur the line between certification and internal audit. I am a qualified ISO 20121:2024 auditor and run these audits as an independent third party. If I designed your management system myself, I will decline and refer you to another qualified auditor so the independence requirement is preserved.
Not sure which service fits? Tell me about the event or venue and we'll agree the scope on a call.
Meet Daniela.
I'm a sustainable event consultant in Amsterdam, and I work on one thing: helping events, venues and hospitality businesses cut their waste and prove the reduction with numbers that hold up.
I came to this through community work and participatory action research — first with the Red Cross in Italy, later designing workshops and community-led projects. What I kept seeing was that events get treated as temporary spaces, exempt from the standards their organisers apply everywhere else. That is a lot of avoidable waste and a lot of avoidable cost, usually in the same place.
So my work reports in three numbers: kilograms, euros and CO₂e, in that order. I'm a qualified ISO 20121:2024 auditor and I use the standard as the structure for how the work is done — not as a certificate I sell. What you get is a measured baseline, a costed plan, and a way to keep counting after I leave.
Sustainable Event Professional Certificate (EIC)
ISO 20121:2024 Auditor — TÜV SÜD
Certified Participatory Action Researcher — Seven Senses- Impact Management and Measurement for the SDGs (Duke University & UNDP)Impact Management and Measurement for the SDGs (Duke University & UNDP)
Ready to cut your waste — and prove it?
Start with a free 30-minute discovery call.
Based in Amsterdam. Serving The Netherlands and Italy. Need international consultancy? Get in touch to see if I can help.