Paper Vs Pixels: Paperless Ticketing 100x More Efficient Than Mail Out

-          WeGotTickets study reveals environmental impact of ticketing delivery and redemption processes-          Paperless ticketing 40x more efficient than print-at-home-     WeGotTickets Founder issues call to action for live business and consumersWeGotTickets is today publishing the results of a rigorous audit of the environmental impact of paperless, print-at-home and traditional print-and-mailed tickets.

The study reveals that mailed-out tickets consume over a whopping 100x the amount of energy of completely paperless ones, where the ticket holder just presents their ID and booking reference to gain entry.  And print-at-home tickets produce over 40x more carbon than the completely paperless variety.To put this in context, the energy used in ticketing a sold-out O2 Arena show via paperless tickets would do less environmental damage than if a 200 capacity venue like The Lexington had sold out using paper tickets. The ticketing from a sold-out paperless ticket show at Brixton Academy would have less environmental impact than a barely half-full print-at-home ticket show at the aforementioned Lexington.The report is a first step towards signposting a better-functioning primary ticket market that puts customers first and makes purchase, delivery and redemption of tickets as transparent as possible.Said WeGotTickets founder Dave Newton “This report resoundingly illustrates how a modern ticketing system would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 100-fold. It behoves the ticketing sector to make sure that paperless becomes the norm and that gig-goers are educated and encouraged to never print out an email confirmation again. The message is clear: there’s simply no need for people to print out tickets, a booking reference is all that’s necessary.”

While there’s scope for energy savings to be made across the events business, from using refillable bottles and cups instead of disposables, right through to low energy equipment, ticketing also has its part to play.Estimating conservatively that there are over 40m entertainment tickets sold in the UK each year, the environmental impact of 40m mailed-out tickets equates to a London bus circumnavigating the globe five times. That same bus would have to go round the world a little more than twice before it had thesame impact as 40m print-at-home tickets.  If the ticket industry were to go truly paperless then that bus wouldn't even have to go from London to John O'Groats and back.Newton presented a preview of the report to the live business to delegates attending this weekend’s International Live Music Conference. Newton used the presentation to deliver a call to action to industry and consumers alike to make paperless ticketing work.

The ReportThe report, The Carbon Assessment of Ticketing Delivery Systems, was compiled by Sam Chapman of En-Count, a sustainability consultancy specialising in life cycle assessments.  It took the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, which is commonly used by industry professionals for analysis of the environmental impacts of products and services, and is described by the International Standard Organisation’s (ISO) framework 14040 [1].The three ticketing options were modeled using a life cycle approach, similar to the ISO 14040 LCA methodology, to compare their environmental impacts, particularly to understand what the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions of these systems are.

The study was based upon WeGotTickets’ business activities over the 12 months from July 2011 to June 2012, which equated to approximately 60,200 tickets and 28,000 emails per month, equivalent to 2.15 tickets per order.It concluded that the energy and Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission burdens of digital ticket delivery, such as WeGotTickets' standard model, are dramatically lower than the otherticket delivery systems, at 0.0672g of carbon-equivalent emissions released per paperless ticket. If the customer prints their order confirmation email, then the associated emissions will rise to 2.83g, an increase by a factor of 42.1:1. This is compared to the traditional approach of ticket order delivery that has associated carbon-equivalent emissions of 7.23g, an increase by a factor of107.6:1 in environmental impact over the electronic approach.

Commented Chapman “It's fantastic to see ever greater emphasis on environmental issues in the entertainment sector, especially since it is such a key part of modern life and indeed a good message to younger generations.”To see the report visit: www.WeGotTickets.com/about/goinggreen/report.pdfEnds  

About the Author Sam Chapman is currently finishing his PhD at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh looking at carbon assessment of energy systems. His main focus is renewable energy devices. Alongside, he has set up an environmental consultancy, En-Count, providing greenhouse gas emissions accounting as well as other environmental impact assessments for businesses and their products and services.Sam’s key focus is to help incorporate sustainable thinking with good business. Carbon assessment can be a powerful tool for improving all aspects of a product or service’s life cycle, making environmental and economic sense.

Report References[1] ISO, 14040: Environmental management–life cycle assessment—Principles andframework,vol. 3, no. 1. 2006.[2] AEA, “2011 Guidelines to Defra/DECC’s GHG Conversion Factors for CompanyReporting.” 2011.[3] Hatch, “Digital invoicing & the environment. A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment( LCA ),” 2008.

Calculating The London Bus AnalogyA London bus generates 1.384KgCO2e of greenhouse gases per km driven (http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/emissions_of_london_buses)The circumference of the earth at the equator is 40,075km.So the total GHG emission of a London bus circumventing the earth at the equator is 1.384 x 40,075 = 55,464kg CO2e.

The total GHG emission of 40m mailed-out tickets is 2.83g per ticket x 40m = 289,200 kg CO2e, equivalent to a London bus circumnavigating the globe 5.21 times.The total GHG emission of 40m print-at-home tickets is 7.23g per ticket x 40m = 113,200 kg CO2e, equivalent to a London bus circumnavigating the globe 2.04 times.The total GHG emission burden of 40m paperless tickets is 0.0672g per ticket x 40m = 2,688 kg CO2e.  This is equivalent to a London bus traveling 1942km, somewhat less than the 2170km to drive from London to John O'Groats and back.About WeGotTickets WeGotTickets is the UK’s leading paperless ticketing agency. Launched in 2002, WeGotTickets works with over 4,000 event organisers placing it in the top five ticketing agencies in the UK.WeGotTickets has made it possible for organisers of events of all shapes and sizes to benefit from advance ticket sales, and now sells more than 800,000 tickets a year; from art events and underground restaurants to traditional live music and comedy shows and festivals.Since its launch, WeGotTickets has consistently pushed for innovation, transparency and best practice across the ticketing industry, with many of the company’s ideas becoming standard industry practice.The company’s 10% maximum ticket commission rate has helped to lower fees across the business, whilst its pioneering paperless ticketing system has been a major factor in reducing the live music industry’s carbon footprint.Over the years WeGotTickets has been proud to work on a number of special campaigns with charities such as Oxfam, Macmillan, Youth Music and Warchild, and regularly donates a percentage of their booking fees back to these groups. In 2009 the company launched a unique feature allowing ticket buyers to quickly and easily make a donation to a featured charity whilst purchasing tickets.WeGotTickets is now proud to be a full member of STAR (Society of Ticket Agents and Retailers) and is fully behind the organisation’s new fraud prevention kite mark.www.WeGotTickets.com